Princess Academy
by awesomeinhumanfrom
Summary: Seven beautiful young girls, each destined to follow past princesses' fates, are cursed on their first day at a new school. Hinata is doomed to fall in a coma, Tenten is destined to be alone, Ino will fall asleep, Temari will be locked in a tower, Karin will be a prissy little mermaid, Matsuri will be given to a beast, and Sakura's child will be stolen. Time is of the essence...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sakura stood at the doorway, her emerald eyes flickering with worry. She gulped down her fear as her eyes wandered down to study the invitation her clammy hands were latched onto. This was the chance of a lifetime, something that she could not bear to lose. With a final gulp of her throat, she barged into the school. She marched through, skilled with the tour she had been given earlier. She gnawed on her bottom lip as she reached her destination, the auditorium. She entered, the realization that she was beyond late sinking into her once more.

"Ah, Miss Haruno, it seems that time matters not to you," Sakura blushed as the woman perched on the stage glowered down at her, her eyes resembling an oak in both color and firmness. Headmistress Tsunade was a strict, but reasonable, woman. She led this academy with an iron grip, her brown eyes constantly watching for trouble. Lady Tsunade flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she turned, pulling out a box. "It matters not, we must begin either way. Take a seat, and the second naming can start." Sakura raced to her seat, her eyes never leaving the stage. This was a moment she had been waiting for her whole life. The second naming, the time when their destinies were given to them. Each girl would be called to the stage, and their identities would be supplied to them. In other words, they would be classified. Sakura already knew that every woman in the room around her was good, a princess of sorts. If they weren't, they would be at Witch's Academy. But no, they all were gathered here at Princess Academy. And they would learn their names. A mixture of nervousness and excitement built up in Sakura's stomach and she leaned forwards in her seat. A quiet passed over the room as Tsunade pulled a card from the box, a smile drifting on her face as she matched a name to it.

"Hyuuga Hinata, please come up," Prying eyes turned onto the shy, beautiful Hyuuga heiress. The girl's face turned a sunset-red as she stood up, slowly making her way to the stage. Sakura had just met the girl and could already tell that she was beyond shy. The way she seemed to fold in on herself as she tiptoed towards the stage was symbolic enough of her nervousness. As she climbed onto the stage Tsunade began to talk.

"Miss Hyuuga, good morning," Tsunade patted the girls back, swooping her to the center of the stage. She waved the card temptingly at the young woman before she folded it open. The older woman skimmed over it, a small smile stretching across her lips. "Hinata Hyuuga, welcome to Princess Academy. It seems as though you have appeared to be Snow White." A blush fumed onto Hinata's face. Sakura's mouth flopped open along with the other girl's at the prestige of Hinata's identity. Snow White? That was unheard of!

"S-Snow White?" Hinata whispered, her violet eyes widening. Tsunade beamed at her as she placed the card in her hands. As Tsunade talked Hinata's eyes ran curiously over the inside of the card.

"The card's reasoning is as follows; you have skin as pale as snow, hair as dark as night, and lips as red as blood," Hinata blushed at Tsunade's words, a small tremble passing through her. She knew as well as anyone else that jealousy would closely follow such an honor-filled position. "Also," Tsunade's index finger pointed up in the air, causing Hinata to jump. "You have a kind spirit, a peaceful nature. Animals are drawn to you due to your nature. Not only that, but a handsome, brave, and sometimes misunderstood Prince Charming is awaiting you at the men's academy." Tsunade winked at Hinata before dismissing her from the stage. Hinata clutched the card to her heart as she stumbled back to her seat, all the eyes in the room closely following her. Said eyes quickly flitted back to the stage when Lady Tsunade cleared her throat.

"And next we have..." She paused as her eyes fluttered over the card in her hand. A tight smile was drawn over her face. "Miss Yamanaka Ino." I turned, my eyes wide as I saw the curvy blonde stand up. Her posture was near perfect, and the self-confidence she radiated seemed the opposite of the timid girl who had came before her. She walked up to the stage, the clink of her heels rhythmically pounding the floor was nearly muscial, and a half smile was evident on her face.

"Good morning, Lady Tsunade," Her voice was like the sound of bells, soothing and energetic at the same time.

"Good morning, Miss Ino," Tsunade unfurled the card, a tight smile on her face. "Welcome to this lovely institution, your identity is quite the...burden." Ino's eyes widened, fear crossing her face. The way Tsunade spoke suggested a curse of some sorts, and a curse was enough to make any girl squirm.

"Burden?" She whimpered, her voice somehow musical despite the worry etched into it.

"Indeed, it seems your status is a dangerous one - Sleeping Beauty. Also known as Aurora." A collective gasp rose across the crowd. Another prestigious identity? And right after Snow White? "My dear, you were blessed as an infant. It seems you were gifted with beauty," That much was clear with Ino's luscious light blonde hair. It shimmered like the sun and ran down her back like silk. And then there were her cerulean eyes, sparkling with emotion and displaying what the girl felt. "A perfect voice," Once more the gift was quite obvious. "And overflowing confidence," Could they get any more blunt? "But those gifts came with a curse. That curse was that on your next birthday, your 17th year, you will be pricked and fall into a deep, unbreakable sleep. You will only be awakened by your true love's kiss," Ino's eyes reflected fear as she gaped at the older woman. Tsunade took the young woman's hand and pressed the card into it. "It will be okay, dear." And with that Ino stumbled off the stage, worry ever-present on her expressive face. The crowd watched her, waiting to see how she would react. Once more, the attention was only pulled back to the stage when Lady Tsunade cleared her throat. She pulled a card out of the box, turning towards the expectant audience to announce the recipient.

"Miss matsuri, please come to the stage," There was the loud sound of a chair being pushed back as a tan girl walked noisily towards the stage. Although she displayed a confident appearance worry hid behind her dark chocolate eyes. She ran up the stage, her eyes boring into the taller woman.

"Miss Matsuri," Lady Tsunade smiled gently at her. "Why must you dress like such a tomboy?" Matsuri pouted at her, and it became evident that a lecture was on its way. Tsunade reached towards the ponytail sitting atop Matsuri's hair and pulled out the hairband, releasing light brown silk to tumble around her face. Matsuri sighed, not wanting to fight with the principal in front of so many people. Instead, she listened intently as Tsunade's eyes focused back on the card. "Welcome to your new school, Belle," A few gasps were heard as Matsuri winced. Everyone knew the story of Beauty and the Beast, and if Matsuri was Belle, another prestigious role, by the way, that meant she would be cursed to love a Beast. "You, as the card reads, were chosen as Belle for your obvious beauty," Matsuri's tan cheeks turned a few shades darker, and she allowed her face to be covered by her brown bob. "Your keen intellect and thirst for knowledge," Matsuri slumped over even more, hiding her face deeper into her hair. "And your open, accepting nature," Tsunade handed the card to Matsuri, who took it shakily. The older woman leaned in and whispered something in Matsuri's ear as she handed her the card. Matsuri then sprinted down the steps, rushing into her seat. Tsunade sighed at her lack of manners, turning back to call another name.

"Miss Uzumaki Karin, please come up," Tsunade watched carefully as an eye-catching girl stood. Her crimson eyes flickered beneath her glasses, and everything about her angled, narrow face suggester maturity. The red hair was stunning against her smooth, pale skin and wild, brightly-colored ringlets drifted all the way down to her butt. Her hips were surprisingly big for her slim physique, and they shimmied back and forth as she walked. This girl clearly had sass. In great supplies. As she walked toward the stage a few girls wrinkled their noses, disapproving of the spunk the girl clearly displayed. Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the Uzumaki before unwrapping her card. "Well, Miss Karin, it seems as though we have another unique one on our hands," Sakura squirmed impatiently as Tsunade rubbed her temple. Why were there so many important figures in her class? Would she be one of them? "Miss Uzumaki, I proudly inform you that you are Ariel," Karin scrunched up her face.

"A prissy little mermaid? Do I look like I belong at sea?" Tsunade sighed at the girl's tone, shaking her head. The girls shook their head at the fact that another important identity had surfaced, and for this attitude-filled girl no less.

"The card's reasoning is your rebellious attitude, your gorgeous red hair, and your maturity. Also, you have a strong life force, strong enough to be both mermaid and human. Similar to Ariel. Not to mention that, beneath your coarse exterior, you are a sweet girl," Karin scoffed, a hand going to her hip. Tsunade ignored her, pressing on with what was scrawled across the card. "Don't forget that a dark-haired prince charming is destined to come along your way. He'll save you when you lose your lovely voice," Although Karin's voice wasn't as beautiful and musical as Ino's, it still had a husky, seductive nature to it. Similar to a siren, Sakura thought numbly as Karin smiled softly.

"Great, at least I get a hottie to make up for this," With that, Karin ripped the card from Tsunade's hand, turning to sashay off the stage. Tsunade shook her head as the spunky girl left, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Miss Temari, come on up," Tsunade turned back to watch along with the rest of the crowd as a girl stood up. She blew a bubble and smirked after it popped. She turned towards the stage, rolling her exotic green eyes. They were a jungle-like color, and seemed to reflect the color of a plant's leaves. Her sandy hair bounced from the four pigtails it was held in, and it stuck out in awkward directions. She either lacked the time or energy to brush it, because it was as matted as it was thick. Her mouth twisted into another smirk as she stood in front of Tsunade, an uncaring look passing her face. Sakrua was quick to decide that she was not fond of this girl. Sakura watched impatiently as Tsunade unfolded Temari's card. She sighed at the results.

"Miss Temari, it seems you are cursed," Temari's smirk faltered, but was quick to return to her face. "Your parents owe a frightening debt, it appears. And that debt will be collected through you. On your next birthday, your 18th, you will be taken far away. It seems, inevitably, that we have another peculiar person, Miss Rapunzel," Temari's eyes widened, and her face lost its smirk. The scowl that replaced it was far less endearing.

"I have short hair, though!" Temari demanded, her eyes wide.

"It seems it will grow on your birthday, if it does it means your curse is happening. Hair growth on you is the sign of a powerful curse coming in effect. Anyways, you can only be saved by true love, and your prince has to fight the one who was collecting your debt and climb the tower using your hair," Temari winced at that, a hand running up to one of her pigtails. Tsunade's face twisted into a worried expression.

"But I am not like Rapunzel...Do I look dainty or sweet?" Tsunade stared at her, shaking her head.

"So many powerful princess and terrible curses..." Tsunade's murmured reply did not satisfy Temari, who's reaction was ripping the paper from Tsunade's hand and storming to her seat. Tsunade shook her head, turning back to her jar and pulling out another sheet of paper.

"Miss Tenten, please come up here," All eyes turned to a girl who shot out of her seat, her eyes scouring the room. She had a cold, calculating look and her skin was an earthy brown. She wore pants and a work-out shirt, and her hair was tied into two dark buns. If she hadn't been so beautiful she could've passed for a boy. Something gave Sakura the feeling that that was what she was aiming for. She marched up the stage, her delicate features forming a smile. Her chocolate eyes sparkled as she smiled at Tsunade.

"And I called Matsuri a tomboy," Tsunade laughed as Tenten's smile disappeared. The girl shifted her weight, traces of a scowl appearing as Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Miss Tenten, it seems as though you carry an impressive status as well. In fact, you are are first warrior. It isn't a surprise given your tomboyish tendencies and your affection for weapons, Mulan," The crowd gave a small gasp at that. Mulan? There hadn't been a Mulan since...Well, since the original. And now this wide-eyed, beautiful young tomboy was carrying the title of a warrior. She was the only one that wouldn't use magic when she defended herself. And that was very, very peculiar. Almost as peculiar as the amount of outstanding statuses. Sakura watched, nervously, as Tenten was handed her card. She gnawed her lip as other names were called, none of them as high-status as those first girls. Was she going to measure up? After a girl called Moegi was called and pronounced as Wendy, Sakura's name echoed from Tsunade's lips. Sakura's head shot up, and worry ran through her. She got up shakily, chomping down on her bottom lip all the while. She walked slowly towards the stage, a tremor of worry coursing through her. She peered up at the destined stage before slumping over, feeling as shy as the first girl as she scurried up the stage. Unfortunately for her dignity, she tripped on the way up. She winced at the fact that she was the only girl to have tripped up the stairs, and the echoing giggles only made the embarrassment worse. She fast-walked the rest of the way, watching with nervous emerald eyes as Tsunade pulled her card out all too slowly. She watched as Tsunade opened it, a frown drifting onto her face. Worry filled her stomach as Tsunade looked up slowly, the frown evident on her lips.

"Miss Haruno, you have an interesting card," Sakura gulped at the worry hidden in the depths of Tsunade's eyes. "Your family was..." Tsunade bit her lip, her eyes flickering. "We will discuss details later, my dear, but all you need to know is that you are a mix. Both Cinderella and...another," Sakura stared with wide eyes as murmurs ran through the audience behind her. A mix? That was unheard of!

"Miss Tsunade, please tell me now. The truth will be kinder than rumors," Sakura's eyes trailed to where a group of girl were whispering. Everyone knowing the truth was better than everyone spreading vicious rumors. Tsunade sighed loudly, her eyes' worry changing to pity.

"Alright, Miss Haruno, if that's what you want," Tsunade unwrapped the card, her eyes skirting over it before she talked. "Your family was poor. In order to get a better life for you, they made a deal. This deal was for your...unborn child," Sakura's eyes widened, worry coursing through her. Her unborn child? "You are to give your first child to the debt collector...The only way to save yourself from the debt collector is to receive your first kiss before midnight on your 18th birthday. If not, you will return to poverty and have to give up your child," Sakura gaped as the news sunk in. What the heck? What was happening to her...She took the card shakily before staggering back to her seat. She peeled it open to read what Tsunade had said. Tears bubbled up into her emerald eyes, and she didn't pay attention as the next name was called. In fact, she simply sat there, reading and rereading her card. Of all the sucky luck...

...

Ugh! This chapter is so long -_- Anyways, this story is a bit confusing right now, and any questions irrelevant to the plot can be asked! Yeah guys, I know, I should not be writing another dtory...I can't help myself T-at The ideas keep appearing, and with my newfound obsession with Once Upon A Time this fanfic was inevitable...So yeah, thanks for reading and sorry for making another story! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After the program Sakura retreated back to her dorm. She collapsed on her bed, tears streaming from her eyes. This was truly unfortunate. She wasn't a fool, she had read enough to know that Rumpistiltskin would be the one coming to collect her child if she couldn't find love. Who else would make a deal like that? Sakura almost didn't hear the door to her room open through her sobs.

"Are you okay?" Sakura turned to see Matsuri, Belle, standing at the door, a thick book tucked under her arm.

"Well," Sakura began as she wiped at her eyes. "I think I'm doing pretty good for a girl who's going to lose her unborn child." Matsuri frowned at that, understanding appearing on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," She said, the discomfort in her eyes showing Sakura that she didn't know how to react. Sakura mustered up a pained smile.

"It's alright. Don't worry, I'll be fi-" Sakura was interrupted when the door was slammed open. Mulan, or Tenten, stormed in.

"Matsuri, I cant find my ro-" She abruptly stopped talking when she detected Sakura. "Why are you crying?" She snapped, causing Sakura to jerk back.

"Well, my baby is go-" Sakura began only to be cut off by Tenten's demeaning voice.

"Oh, just kill him when he comes for your kiddo. You'll be fine, girly. If you can't do it, call on me," She pulled out a shining knife, a smile appearing on her face. "I'll take care of him," She grinned as a shiver of fear crawled down Sakura's spine. Tenten whirled back around to Matsuri before waving her room number in front of her face. "Now come on, I can't find my chambers!" With that, Tenten spun on her heel and went to wait in the hall. Matsuri drifted after her, pausing only to say something to Sakura.

"Don't worry, she's actually really nice," She then turned to walk, pausing once again, a smile on her kind face. "Why don't you come along? Maybe meeting the others will help!" Sakura stared as her, weighing her options. Between meeting other girls and sulking in her room the choice was obvious.

"Thanks," She said as she wiped her face off, standing up and hurrying after the beautiful brunette.

"No problem," Matsuri smiled at her as they entered the hall, nearly running into an impatient Tenten.

"You took forever!" The tomboy announced, her eyes skating from Matsuri to Sakura. "The pink haired chick is tagging along?" Sakura blushed at that, running a hair over her long, slightly knotted hair. She was slightly embarrassed by the bright, painfully noticeable color of her stubborn hair. Tenten, however, had a teasing grin on her face, her eyes glittering with amusement. That was enough to make Sakura feel more comfortable.

"Let's go!" Matsuri chirped, a smile on her face as she locked arms with both Tenten and Sakura at the same time.

"Hey! You know I don't like that!" Tenten smiled teasingly, pretending to try to jerk her arm away as Matsuri giggled.

"Not as much as you don't like dresses!" Matsuri sang, earning a hateful glare from Tenten.

"Don't speak of those wretched things," Tenten hissed as Matsuri chuckled loudly, her walk turning to a skip.

"I hope they have a library here!" Matsuri exclaimed, her eyes dancing with excitement. "Then I'll get to read from even more authors!" Tenten snorted loudly, her brown eyes rolling again.

"You and your books," She said, her tone mocking as Matsuri elbowed her.

"Don't even start! I know you'll be looking for a weapons collection!" Matsuri chuckled as Tenten grinned deviously.

"You know me all too well!" She said, a leer on her face that caused Matsuri's chuckle to turn to a gracious laugh. Naturally, Sakura felt a bit dis-included from the best friend's conversation. Her only choice was to politely invade the chat.

"Where are we headed?" Both of the girls turned to look at the pinkette.

"Why, to find Tenten's room, of course!" Matsuri exclaimed, a smile on her face. Tenten smiled as well, but her smile was far more reserved then Matsuri's warm, open grin. It wasn't hard to see how Matsuri was open and loving to all. Sakura guessed that that was what made her the Beauty out of the 'Beauty and the Beast' equation. She returned the smile, hoping that she could make a friend out of this girl.

"Alright, where are we going to meet other girls?" Matsuri grinned at that, turning to push open a door. Inside sat a familiar shy, dark-haired girl. Up close she was even more beautiful, and that was enough to make Sakura a bit jealous. What was odd was the open window, the curtains flying in the wind. What was even stranger was the fact that the beautiful Hyuuga was covered in birds, birds of all kinds.

"H-hello," She said, a small smile appearing on her ruby lips.

"I'm rooming with you?" Tenten burst from the line of locked arms, plopping on the bed next to Hinata. Her action was enough to send Hinata's friends scurrying out the window, flapping off into the sky. "Oh...sorry?" Tenten smiled sheepishly as Hinata stared after the birds. Hinata was quick to recover.

"Oh, it is fine. They were just made a bit..." She paused as if looking for the right word, a blush coming over her face. "Ne-nervous...about..making...new.." The pauses between her words grew longer and her face grew redder.

"Friends?" Matsuri asked as she unlocked her arm with Sakura's, making her way over to the bed and sitting on Hinata's other side. "Because if that's what the birds are afraid of, make sure to tell them that I'll happily be their friend!" Matsuri beamed as Hinata, Snow White, blushed, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Thanks," Hinata whispered, her stunning lavender eyes transferring to the ground.

"Your welcome!" Matsuri chirped as she scooped up Hinata's hand, pulling the shy girl off the bed. "Now let's go, girls, we gotta get to the library!" Tenten stood, a smile on her face.

"No thanks, Belle, I wanna stay here and settle in!" Matsuri frowned at that.

"Just call me Matsuri," She said as she let go of Hinata's hand. "And you have to come! Please!" Tenten smiled at Matsuri as she dropped a few weapons onto her bed. She shrugged, turning her back on her best friend and polishing her sharp toys to a metallic shine. Matsuri pouted at her. "Fine!" She said, pulling both Sakura and Hinata from the room. "Sakura, Hinata, and I will have fun without you!" With that Matsuri began walking down the hall, her grip on Sakura and Hinata's hands turning to locked arms.

"So, ladies, what kind of books do you like?" Matsuri smiled at both of her new friends in turn, happily awaiting their answers. Sakura pondered the question, and all too soon came to her answer.

"I-I like faerytales," Hinata smiled in return to Matsuri's grin.

"Really? I love those! I absolutely adore nearly all books!" Masuri's walk morphed into a skip to reflect her joyous mood. "What about you, Sakura?" Sakura gnawed at her lip as she pondered telling the truth. With a sigh, she decided to give her new friends honesty.

"I like medical books and manuscripts," Sakura knew what she said was wrong when Matsuri's skip stopped.

"Really?" She cried, her dark eyes wide and staring into the now-blushing Sakura. "I love those! I mean, after a while I lose interest, but the new, enriching facts can be intriguing!"

"Nerds," The word echoed down the hall, and Matsuri, Sakura, and Hinata looked up to see Temari/Rapunzel, and Karin/Ariel, smiling at them down the hall. Temari giggled, a laugh that wasn't malicious at all. "Don't look so hurt, I was just kidding!" Temari smiled at them, breaking her smile only to blow and thus pop her bubble. Karin pushed up her glasses, smiling teasingly as she spoke.

"Although it is rather nerdy to enjoy manuscripts!" She said, her tone mocking. Matsuri grinned in reply, a teasing eye roll ensuing from her.

"Yeah, Karin, because you haven't read your fair share of manuscripts!" Karin laughed as Matsuri broke from the arm link once more, running over and wrapping her arms around Karin and Temari in a giant bear hug.

"I haven't seen you forever!" Temari laughed, her smile joyous. "Now come on, I have someone for you to meet!" She gestured for Hinata and Sakura to follow as well, so the mix-matched group of girls paraded together down the hall. Temari burst into her room, revealing a girl sitting at her desk. The blonde stood up and was quickly recognized as Ino, or Aurora.

"Oh, hello, I was writing in my diary," The beautiful blonde quickly shut the book, locking it with a key.

"What do you have in there?" Karin asked, smiling deviously as she lunged for the purple, lacy book. Soon, the Uzumaki and Yamanaka were wrestling on the floor over it. It took only a moment for Temari to join in, outnumbering Ino and therefore rising victorious with the book.

"This is an invasion of privacy!" Ino yelled as Temari broke the lock, a malicious grin on her face. Before she could read a word, the book was snatched from her hands.

"Temari," Temari's sea foam green eyes travelled down to meet Matsuri's dark orbs. "This is intrusive towards Ino's dignity!" Matsuri gave the book back to the frazzled blonde, who clutched it protectively to her chest. Matsuri put her hands on her hips as the older girl laughed.

"Something wrong?" All eyes turned to see Tenten leaning on the door frame, spinning a kunai around her finger.

"Oh, nothing. Karin and I were teasing Ino and it upset Matsuri!" Temari laughed again as Matsuri cracked a smile. She went over and said something

to Ino, who soon let it go as well.

...

Alright, this chapter will have rose some questions. In the next chapter, the curses and roles as well as other schools will be briefly explained. I'm gonna leap straight into the action with this one, so we have to explain as we go ;) Thanks for reading and reviewing, and feel free to ask questions! ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The girls sat in Temari and Ino's room, gathered either on or around Ino's bed, with the exception of Tenten who was perched the wrong way on Ino's spinning chair.

"So, we have all have problems," Ino's melodic, cheerful voice rang through the room, not at all matching the frown on her serious face. Sakura sighed at that, knowing that her problems were probably worse than anyone else's here. Her own child... "And they come in the form of curses. But all curses can be broken, correct?" After the crucial number of nods and assents took place Ino continued talking. "So, we know these curses had to come from somewhere, correct?" Once again, Ino waited until the proper agreement took place. "So it has to be Akatsuki Academy, the upper class men graduation test! They had to do these curses!" Hinata raised her hand as if to ask a question.

"B-but I don't have a curse," Hinata watched as the rest of the group face-palmed.

"You are Snow White, they are gonna trick you into eating an apple and put you to sleep, similar to Aurora over there," Temari hissed at Hinata, who whimpered in reply. Ino frowned at her, but didn't let that delay her talking.

"Anyways," Ino growled, irritated at being interrupted. "These curses are powerful and dangerous. But they are also the works of students!" Ino smiled winningly, but she failed to convince the worried women around her. "Come on that means they can be changed!" She grinned hopefully, but once more failed to get the hope up. She sighed, tears suddenly bursting from her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Matsuri asked as she rushed towards the crying girl, stroking her hair to comfort her.

"My birthday is in three days!" Ino yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks. "In three days I'm gonna fall asleep and never wake up!" Suddenly, the girls realized her desperation to end the curses. In only three days she would fail to wake up again, in only three days her life might end...

"Don't worry, we just have to find your true love!" Matsuri cried, stroking Ino gently. Ino whacked her away, anger mixed with fear causing the tears to come faster.

"Three days? That isn't enough time! I'm doomed!" Suddenly, Tenten lunged upwards. She stormed over to Ino and gave her a good hard slap. That was enough to stop her hysterics.

"Stop it! Crying won't help you!" Tenten glared at Ino as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Like you would know, you don't have a curse!" Ino hissed in return. Tenten shook her head in response.

"I may not have a curse like yours, but I am cursed to watch my friends disappear. I have to watch as Matsuri gets taken by a Beast, you fall into an unbreakable sleep, Temari is trapped in a castle, Sakura's baby is taken away, Hinata goes into a coma, and Karin is turned into a mermaid. In other words, I will be all alone, trying to break the curses and save my friends. How does that feel?" Ino stared at Tenten, her mouth slightly parted.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered. "I'm so sorry...I am just so scared...You consider me a friend?"

"If you stop acting like a wimp," Tenten growled as she dropped Ino, collapsing on the floor. "Now let's try to keep you away from everything sharp on your b-day, alright?"

"So in other words you have to stay away from me on my birthday?" Ino asked, a smile teasing her lips. Tenten frowned, her voice mocking.

"Who knows, maybe I'll give you a knife as a present," Tenten joked, drawing a laugh out of Ino.

"You think those Akatsuki people will show up on Ino's b-day to enact their curse?" Karin stared emotionlessly from the other side of the room. Ino bit her bottom lip, her eyes shifting from Karin to Tenten and back again.

"No, it has already been enacted. At Ino's birth," All eyes turned towards Temari, who blew a bubble and promptly popped it. "Lady Tsunade said she had three good qualities given at birth, the price being a curse. That was Akatsuki. Some jerk probably preparing for his lovely little final exam," Temari snapped yet another bubble as eyes turned back to Ino. Ino still looked rather upset as far as her quickly approaching fate went, and the way her azure eyes filled with tear was enough to prove that.

"I'm tired!" Temari announced with a yawn. "Ino, ready to get a few Z's?" The group was fast to take the hint: Temari wanted to talk to Ino, alone. As the other girls filed out, Temari proved to not be the only one who was tired.

"What time is it?" Tenten asked, accompanying her question with a glance at her watch. "9:54?! Our curfew is 9:30!" And with that the group quickly subsided, each of the girls running off to their rooms to avoid Tsunade's strict curfew law. Sakura and Matsuri reached their room just as a curfew-enforcing patrol strolled by. Both the girls giggled as her steps echoed down the hall, headed away from them. Suddenly, a question popped in a certain pinkette's mind and the air turned increasingly serious.

"Matsuri, are you scared of your curse?" Matsuri turned her head, surprised by the suddenness of Sakura's invasive question.

"Well, yeah...What if he's cruel to me?" Matsuri blushed and looked at the ground as Sakura bit her lip.

"Don't worry, I'm afraid too. I have to fall in love by the birthday after my next birthday." Matsuri and Sakura giggled at the awkward wording of Sakura's sentence, but their glee was short lived.

"I hope that the Beast is nice since my fate is unavoidable..." Matsuri trailed off, her lips pursing together. Sakura frowned in return.

"What do you mean? Every curse can be broken!" Sakura was surprised by the tears bubbling up behind her newfound friend's eyes.

"No, it isn't a curse. It is an agreement. And it was sealed long before I was born. My mother was like you...Not the Cinderella half, however. She had to give her first born up. But they decided to wait until I was older so they wouldn't have to take care of a little kid. And when they deem it appropriate they are gonna take me. It is inevitable." Matsuri studied at the ground as Sakura stared at her, horrified.

"I-I'm so sorry," Sakura said, but Matsuri shook her head in return.

"Don't be, it's already been decided. It has been written and I just want to enjoy my last amounts of time here before I have to go do whatever a Beast says. Don't pity me, please. I want my dignity and I want my friends," She smiled at Sakura, ignoring the pity in the other girl's eyes. "Good night Sakura!" Matsuri said before going to prepare for bed, leaving the pinkette to her thoughts.

...

Thanks for reading! Please review! Thanks to all those reviewers, especially those who I couldn't respond to (Sorry guest reviewers, I can't answer questions on this website -_-) and I want to tell you that I did read and appreciate your review! ;) And, for everyone's sake, the Akatsuki are in the main thing bc they are my lovely villains, but no, not my princes. My princes shall come later };) Anyways, enough with my pairings rant, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I hope it explained a little more to their curses, and if not, feel free to ask! If you are a guest reviewer feel free to ask questions as well, I guess I'll answer them in my A/N. Everyone please have a wonderful day! ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When Sakura's hazy, tired eyes blinked open at 6:30 she was beyond sleepy. Being beyond tired, singing, no matter how beautiful, was the last thing she wanted to hear. The pinkette groaned loudly as high, happy singing invaded her ears. She rubbed her eyes and looked around to already see light tumbling into her room, her roommate Matsuri dancing about the room, singing, cleaning, and unpacking. She stopped singing when she realized that the other girl was awake, though barely.

"Oh, Sakura! Good morning! Did I ever tell you what beautiful eyes you have?" Matsuri giggled as Sakura rolled said eyes and flipped back over in her bed. Sakura was NOT a morning person. And Matsuri, unfortunately for her, was. "Come on Sakura, we have to get up!" Matsuri chirped as she pulled at Sakura's silky pink bedsheets. With a sigh, Matsuri gave up and went to fold her own silky blue bed sheets. Sakura groaned again as Matsuri's badly timed singing ensued once more. She tried to cover her ears with her hands and, when that failed, she slammed her head under one fluffy bed sheet-matching pillow. She tried her best to ignore the fact that the pillow quickly proved to be the worst sound-blocker ever.

"Sakura, Matsuri!" The door was suddenly lurched open, causing Matsuri to swivel around and Sakura to silently thank whoever had stopped the singing. Matsuri quickly identified Tenten, followed in by Hinata, Temari, a sleepy-looking Karin, and a very energetic Ino. Ino promptly sat her tush straight on the ever-grouchy pinkette. Sakura was not in the mood to serve as a chair.

"Get offa me!" Sakura yelled as she lunged at, growling at Ino before pulling the blankets back over her head. Why did no one respect that fact that she wanted just a little more shut-eye?

"Well, someone's not a morning person," Sakura rolled her eyes at Temari's tantalizing voice.

"I am too a morning person!" Sakura screeched as she came out of the fort of pillows and sheets she had been surrounded by. "Just not at 6:30!" And with that Sakura stuck her pale, dainty feet into slippers and made her way to the bathroom she and Matsuri shared. Her terrible attitude was accompanied by the giggles of the other girls. When Sakura burst back out of the bathroom she collapsed back onto her bed, her emerald eyes looking at the other girls before she buried her face into the nearest pillow.

"Alright," Matsuri said, a smile gracing her face. "Since we all know that today is our only day before we begin school, what do you guys wanna do?" She smiled as the other girls considered their options. Most of them had already taken the tour, all that was left was to goof off and make friends. Maybe they could add another person to their group! Or maybe they could go to Prince Academy, the all-boy school across the way...

"W-we could go to the library!" Hinata blushed as Temari groaned in response.

"Hinata, you'll have plenty of time for books! Don't you wanna visit the gentlemen?" Temari smiled as Hinata blushed, the look on her face expressing her horror at the thought of talking to boys.

"Temari's right! I have three days left, I wanna see boys!" Ino beamed as she gave Hinata a half-hug, as though trying to make up for preferring Temari's suggestion.

"I heard the boys are hot," Karin's comment added to Hinata's blush, and the dark-haired girl eventually chose to study the ground.

"Are we allowed off campus?" Matsuri asked, her dark eyes showing her confusion. Temari grinned at her as she winked one tropical-green eye shut.

"Who will know?" Matsuri frowned at Temari's response, and just as she opened her mouth to say something Tenten cut into the conversation.

"Who wants to see a bunch of arrogant, pig-headed boys? All they care about is 'saving the day.' They should know women can take care of their own darn selves!" As if to support Tenten's statement, Tenten's knife was implanted into the wall beside a now-frowning Temari's head. Before an argument could begin Matsuri changed the topic.

"Hey guys, I think Sakura's asleep," Sure enough, the girls turned to see Sakura lying face-down in the bed, dead asleep. Temari snickered as an idea popped into her head.

"Guys, be quiet," Temari said as she hurried across Matsuri and Sakura's room. The girls watched as she collected two frying pans (Matsuri is an avid cooker who insisted upon bringing her kitchen tools) and snuck over Sakura's head. With a loud, abrupt 'bang!' the two frying pans met. Sakura screeched at the far-from-pleasant wake-up call, and was quick to realize that there were worse things to hear in the morning than Matsuri's singing. Sakura scrambled from Temari as she laughed along with the other girls. Anger was quick to replace Sakura's surprise.

"Really, guys!? Of all the immature, stupid pranks!" Sakura growled as she noticed even Hinata, a girl who was kind to everyone, was softly laughing. After a while, Sakura's outlandish temper gave in, and her anger subsided into a few laughs. That is, until the frying pan's clash turned out to have awoken some very unhappy neighbors. A girl burst into their room, a hand on her hip and a frown on her face. Sakura had never seen her before, and she merely stared at her as she began to speak.

"What in the name of all happy ending's is going on in here!?" The girl shouted. She had long, dark purple hair and wide crystal eyes. Her mouth seemed to be stuck in a permanent frown as she glared across the room. "Do you realize that yo-" The door was suddenly slammed in her face by a very irritated looking redhead.

"Ugh, that girl rubs me the wrong way," Karin growled, ignoring the pounding on the door with a smirk. Temari fist-bumped the redhead and both the girls laughed as the girl on the other side threatened to get Lady Tsunade.

"Go ahead you pansy!" Temari yelled, and the girl's retreating steps only served to further amuse the two.

"I-I hope that she doesn't bring the Headmisstress..." A less-amused voice supplied by the shy Hyuuga sounded, stopping Temari and Karin's bemused chortles.

"Don't worry, she's a little wimp," Karin said, waving her hand. "I met her on my tour, she's all bark no bite," Karin smiled and the shy girl did her best to return the smile, but worry still laid in her violet eyes. The whole moment was effectively ruined when Ino decided to make an announcement.

...

Argh! My internet is not working properly T-T It won't let me reply to some of my reviews! i deeply apologize if you failed to receive a reply, I am so, so, sorry! To answer some questions, Akatsuki pov will be coming soon ;) I just wanna squeeze in a little more character depth for our lovely heroines! Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Guys, I have two days left," All the girls in the room turned to study Ino's face as she spoke. "Can we pleeeeeaaase make memories! I don't want my last two days to be dreary!" Ino's prodding words earned consideration from the other girl's. It wasn't long before agreement passed over the room, the last two days Ino had would be centered around Ino. And finding ways to break her curse. And just overall having fun.

"So, Ino, what do you wanna do?" Matsuri grinned at her blonde friend, and Ino immediately beamed back.

"I have an idea of something fun that we could try..." The other girl's intently followed Ino's every word.

"Then spit it out," Temari growled after a few moments of silence.

"Okay, fine!" Ino hissed, upset that her tension had been ruined. "How about karaoke?" A few of the less musical girls groaned, Sakura included in the noise. Why didn't these women understand that some girls didn't sing?

"What about the less musically skilled ladies?" Tenten mused as she laced a kunai through her fingers, an expectant look crossing her face. Ino clapped her hands together, her smile unfaltering.

"They can be our audience!" A few of the girls that formed the 'audience' rolled their eyes as they followed an overly-excited Ino from the room. Sakura sighed as Ino squealed in excitement. How the heck did she even get that giant machine in here? Sakura watched boredly and listened to the other girl's melodic singing. Just great, everyone but Tenten and I can sing, she thought to herself. She sighed and rolled her eyes when Tenten proved that she, too, could sing and match pitch. That left only her, and her voice was not something that she was proud of. Sakura stood, her emerald eyes flickering towards her competitor. She sighed as she saw Ino standing across from her. The gorgeous blonde tilted her head, taking in the wary pinkette.

"Something wrong, forehead?" She asked, her honey-sweet voice smooth over the insult. But Sakura was not daft enough to miss it.

"Did you just call me forehead," She pondered for a moment, trying to think up an insult. She looked at the blonde girl who was currently adorning a pink shirt with a cartoonish pig on it. "Ino-pig?" Sakura grinned at the insult, and watched as Ino smiled cheerfully in return. Ino laughed lightly before turning to the machine, setting in a song for them to sing to. Sakura's smile disappeared as she began to melt into the lyrics, trying to ignore the coarse sound of her voice in comparison to Ino's lovely trill. When the song was over, Ino turned and grinned at her friend.

"Forehead, you have a nice voice despite yourself," Ino grinned at Sakura's mock offense.

"What do you mean 'despite myself,' Ino-pig?" Ino laughed, offering a high five to the pinkette. Sakura graciously took it as she went back to her seat. Ino sat next to her as Karin and Hinata replaced them, Hinata's light, innocent voice a great contrast to Karin's husky singing. Ino smiled graciously at Sakura.

"Sakura, you know you would look so much prettier if you didn't hide behind all that hair," Ino brushed Sakura's pink locks away, revealing a heart-shaped face, intense green eyes, and petal pink lips. Ino's smile turned to a pout when Sakura quickly brushed the hair back in front of her face.

"I'm not as..." Sakura paused, pondering which word to use. "Confident as you." She watched as Ino chuckled lightly in response.

"Nonsense! You choose not to be as confident as me! Confidence can belong to anyone who chooses to use it!" Ino gave Sakura a wink before trotting back to the other girls. Sakura watched as she went, then let her emerald eyes study the rest of the room. She sighed deeply as she noticed none of the other girls were paying her a lick of attention. She stood up, pacing as she thought. The other girls seemed to already be so close...She felt slightly unincluded. She chewed her lip, a nervous habit that was starting to appear more recently as she pondered he situation. Of all the girls she had grown the closest to Matsuri and Ino. Ino had today and tomorrow before her birthday, which wasn't very long in consideration. Matsuri could be stolen away at any time, who knew when someone would come for her. It was...infuriating. Her eyes flickered over to Tenten, and suddenly she sympathized with the tomboy. She wanted to protect her friends. Unfortunately, Sakura didn't have the luxury of being a weapons master. And that made everything ten times as hard as necessary. Luckily, Sakura had something that, while not as useful in a fight as weapons, would help her in the long run. Her brains and the fact that she, too, had magic. And if this school wasn't for teaching magic, what was it for?

~two days later~

"I'm not cut out for this!" Ino shrieked as she fell onto her bed, collapsing in a mess of blonde hair and pink fabric. After school had began each girl was forced to dress as the princess they had taken after, leaving Sakura in a plushy blue dress, Ino in a flowing pink dress, Tenten in a kimono (that she loved in the moments she wasn't missing her pants), Karin a plushy pink dress, Temari a thin green dress that matched her eyes, Hinata a dress that flowed around her like silk, and Matsuri a gorgeous golden dress that belonged in a ballroom. Needless to say, the ladies hated the wardrobe change. But all was set temporarily aside in honor of Ino's 17th, the day the whole school had been bustling about. And that was because classes had been stopped and Ino had been relentlessly guarded throughout the long day. Lady Tsunade refused to lose a student and a chunk of her school's reputation to, what she called, a 'measly curse.' However, Ino didn't seem to keen on being followed wherever she went and the lack of privacy had made the girl squeamish. As a result, Ino had demanded to be allowed to retreat to her room. Tsunade's instant reaction was to send a small army of six girls to watch out for their friend. Naturally, Ino was full of complaint.

"This sucks! I just want ten minutes to write in my diary! That's it! Who's gonna get me in ten minutes!" Ino screeched over the other girl's jabbering. She put her hands on her hips and stood with sass.

"I-Ino, please...We don't want you to get hurt..." Hinata stared with concern at her friend, and Ino couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"Hinata, I know, but what could possibly go wrong in a few minutes? I'll scream if I see someone fishy!" Ino grinned as Hinata gnawed her lip.

"I guess a few minutes..." Temari crossed her arms as she said it, and Hinata looked back and forth between the two.

"I have to go...learn about mermaid stuff!" Karin winked at Ino before evacuating. Ino beamed in return, her eyes hopeful that the others would follow Karin's example. Tenten leaned against the wall, watching as Hinata silently trailed after Karin. Temari's eyes lingered on Ino before she pulled open the door, sighing as she spoke.

"I'll wait out in the hall," Temari said, her face scrunched with worry. Sakura sighed, deciding to take initiative and lead her roommate out.

"Come on, Matsuri, since we couldn't bring Ino a birthday present we can give her some privacy," Sakura tugged Matsuri along, ignoring the unsure look in her eyes. Matsuri sighed as she allowed herself to be tugged out the door. As they left Ino's eyes turned expectantly to Tenten. The tomboy shook her head with a sigh as she paraded off to wait out in the hall with Temari. Ino smiled at the freedom, turning to look out the window at the sunny day. It was truly beautiful, she noted. She walked towards her desk, noticing that the time was 6:54 at night.

'I've almost made it through the day!' Her looping caligraphary danced across the page of her diary as she wrote about the day. She recorded thoughts, feelings, actions, and anything else she deemed slightly important. All the while she was completely oblivious to a presence outside her window.

*Pov Switch*

A man crouched outside, the sun beating down on his back. He grinned, oblivious to the impending sunburn as he carefully watched. The blonde sat at her desk, most likely writing about her newest crush, or whatever it was that teenage girls wrote about. He couldn't contain this joy; the curse was so effective! At this rate there was no way he couldn't pass the final exam! As his amazingly boring teacher said, it is all procedure, procedure, procedure. He grinned as he connected the procedure to art, the way she sat in her chair, looking delicate and dainty, as he readied his curse. All the preparations had long since been made and there was only one tiny thing left to do. Something so important he could not bear to screw it up, something so desperately necessary to his passing of Akatsuki Academy that messing up would be unbearable. This something was acquiring the girl that the curse would be upon. And that girl, Aurora, was positioned just perfectly. Deidara's hands were nimble and quick as he peeled open the contained Sasori had given him. He grinned at the long, straight needle inside.

"Thanks Danna, yeah!" He whispered as he aimed the needle. He chose her shoulder as the best bet, given the fabric there was darker and would be better to hid her blood. Everything had to be perfect, and a bloodstain on his princess was unacceptable! No, if the prince managed to get past his traps and dragons he would get a perfect, gorgeous woman, not some blood-stained excuse. Deidara shook himself from his thoughts, refocusing his aim as he pulled back his arm. He waited as the girl paused from her writing to sharpen her pencil. 'Perfect,' he thought as the needle flew from his hands. He followed after it, leaping into the window and watching as the blue-eyed princess loudly yelped, her hand gripping her shoulder as blood leaked from it. Said blood seeped in three single droplets onto her diary, and she winced in pain. Deidara smirked as she looked at him, terror behind her eyes.

"Y-you..." Her voice was melodic and mesmerizing, but that was far from enough to earn Deidara's mercy. Deidara walked over to her as she fell to the ground, her eyes shutting tight and her body flopping to the floor lifelessly. He picked her up, setting her on the bed as he quickly wrote his own entry into her diary. He also drew a shaky map underneath his scribbles. He left it with a hum, scooping her up bridal-style and parading towards the window where his bird awaited him. He smiled as someone burst into the room just as he leapt onto his clay bird, swooping into the sky. Everything had gone perfectly, nearly as perfect as his art!

...

Okay guys, the reasoning I skipped two days is because all that would happen is the girls would bond and I know that, while bonding is fun to write, it would get boring. So instead Deidara comes and my first curse is enacted! Sorry to speed things along like this! Anyways, please read and review, and thanks for looking!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Temari had watched some guy leap out of Ino's now empty room and she wasn't about to dismiss it as a coincidence. She zipped to Ino's window, peeking out to see a giant white bird swoop away, a flash of pink on it. Ino's pink dress! Temari whipped around, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"HELP!" She ran towards the door, readying herself to scream again when she noticed Ino's diary hanging open, her calligraphy scrawled neatly across the page until it abruptly ended. There were three drops of rosy blood, echoing underneath her looping cursive. Temari gaped at the sloppy print that was styled beneath Ino's entry.

Greetings! If you are reading this, you'll notice that pretty little Aurora is long-gone! Guess what, the curse has been enacted and there's only one thing left for me to do: keep the prince away! Go ahead, send your best! It doesn't matter who they are, a prince barbecue is at hand! I guess since I can't thank Aurora since she is, well, asleep, I have to thank whoever finds this. So thanks for leaving the window open and making acing my exams that much easier! Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to entertain me by donating princes to my royal fry!

~Deidara

Temari boiled at the arrogant letter left by some Akatsuki creep. How dare he! Not only does he take Ino, but he mocks her as well? For a moment, Temari's hands gripped the diary and prepared to rip it pieces. But two tan hands grabbed hers, stopping her from doing so.

"Let me read it," Tenten said, her brown eyes wide as she skimmed the letter and noticed a sloppily-drawn map beneath it. "Go get help!" Temari did just that, sprinting from the room and telling anyone who looked halfway important of the events that had taken place. She threw open Karin, Hinata, and Matsuri's rooms, yelling in the news on her way to Lady Tsunade's office. When she yelled the events into Matsuri and Sakura's rooms, both the girl were caught off guard. Sakura immediately threw down the book she had been reading.

"Ino!" She desperately yelled as she charged out into the halls, running over everyone in her way. Matsuri stood to follow her, worry etched onto her face. As she took the first step of her run, a hand latched onto her shoulder. She would've screamed if another hand hadn't curled over her mouth.

"Matsuri, I presume? Time to pay your debt," She turned to face cold green eyes and a face covered by a mask. Before she could think about running she was thrown over the man's shoulder as he leapt out of the window, landing next to another man with silvery hair and amethyst eyes.

"Kakazu, what the f-" Matsuri gasped in horror as the man holding her sliced off the other man's head.

"Don't follow me, Hidan." Kakazu hissed as he began walking away from Matsuri's school. Kakazu sighed at the stream of curses that followed him as Matsuri remained in shock.

"Are you collecting my mother's debt?" Matsuri's voice was near a whimper, and she knew her time had come. He was using Ino's disappearance to cover hers. She wouldn't be noticed as missing until Sakura came back to the room...and even then Sakura may assume that she had gone off to look for Ino. Tears bubbled in her eyes as she realized that she wouldn't get to say goodbye to her friends or her past life. She noticed the man carrying her nod.

"Where are you taking me?" Matsuri whispered as Kakazu attempted to ignore her. He sighed, thinking up a deal.

"If I tell you where we are going, will you promise to be silent?" Kakazu hissed as Matsuri contemplated this. In the end, she had no other choice.

"I will be silent if you say where I'm going." She said.

"I sold you to a man in need of a servant," Matsuri frowned, that told her absolutely nothing. Of course, being true to the deal, she was silent as she was carried away. She wondered what her friends would think. Maybe they would know. She prayed that the other curses would somehow fail to take place, that at least her friends would be safe. She gnawed her lip, hoping that Sakura could keep her first born, Temari would not be stuck in a tower with long hair (even though that was a funny image), that Karin wouldn't have to swim the seven seas, that Hinata would go a diet that excluded apples, that Tenten could have all her friends together and get over her lack of appreciation for the male gender, and that Ino would somehow find a way home. If her friends could be happy, then her fate wouldn't be so bad, right? She yelped as she was brought back from her thoughts by being thrown to the ground. She stood as Kakazu opened a door. Her dark eyes scoured her surroundings, it looked as though they were in the middle of a desert. How long had she been thinking? She was once more grabbed by Kakazu's hand and yanked into the castle. She was thrown to the floor, and the floor was covered by a dark liquid of sorts. She dipped her finger in it to see maroon spotting her index finger. She felt sick she realized what liquid was covering the floor. Blood.

"Do you have my money?" Her eyes turned to Kakazu, who was staring intently at something in front of her. She turned and looked upwards to see a man, shrouded by darkness.

"This is her? She looks underfed." The voice was cold and sent shivers down her spine.

"She's just thin. Now do you have my gold?" Kakazu held out his hand impatiently. He was rewarded when a pale hand stretched out of the shadows, tightly gripping a briefcase. Kakazu opened it, then nodded at the person hidden in the shadows before turning and leaving Matsuri alone. In a room soaked with blood.

...

Ugh...I need to update my other stories...but I'm on a disney addiction and I can't stop XD


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Matsuri immediately backed away from the pile of blood on the floor. A mixture of fear and disgust left her nauseated, and for a moment the room seemed to spin. Why was there so much blood? She closed her eyes, hoping that when she reopened them this whole scene in front of her would just be another wretched nightmare. But when she opened the eyes the blood still soaked the floor. She wanted to run but her legs shook like jello beneath her. She remembered that another person was in the room when an orange flame flickered to life. Shadows stretched across the walls as the weak flame illuminated the room, revealing a boy in front of her. Of all the things Matsuri had imagined to be standing in the middle of a pool of blood, he was not one of them. The boy reminded her of Set, the Egyptian god of evil, with his perfect, cold features. He had high-set cheekbones that seemed to make his piercing sea-green eyes even colder. The strawberry colored hair that sat atop his head flew out in all angles as if he still had bed-head. He held the candle loosely in his hands as sand danced around him. Matsuri was awe-stricken and nearly hypnotized by the boy's control of the sand until she noticed the maroon smears covering it. That was enough to bring the head-spinning nausea back.

"Did you..." Matsuri couldn't finish her sentence. Kill, a word she had used carelessly, seemed to carry so much more weight now that a pile of blood was before her.

"Did I what?" His icy, rough voice made her back away again, her dark eyes staring into his. When she didn't answer him his emotionless facade turned to anger. "Spit it out, woman!" The sand around him circled faster, as if preparing to reach out to her.

"Did you ki-kill someone?" She whispered, her eyes wandering back to the blood. For a moment, she considered running for her life. But again, she could end up as another puddle on his floor. She slowly looked up to see his head tilted to the side as though he was confused.

"Yeah," He said, the word nearly crushing her. The way he said it was as if he didn't realize what he had done.

"How could you?" She whispered, tears in her eyes as she imagined a person, terrified at the aspect of death being murdered by the cruel man across the room. What kind of beast was he?

"How could I what? He threatened me so I eliminated him," He stared at her as tears ran down her face. Why the heck was she crying? What a strange woman... "Call me Gaara, woman." He hissed, turning to leave the room. He was quick to remember a chore he had for the brunette. "Oh, and clean this room." With that he quickly ducked out of the room.

"Wait!" He heard her yell before he shut the door. He sighed, poking his head back into the room.

"What?" He growled at the crying girl.

"My name is Matsuri," she said as she veered around the puddle. "Will you please show me around if I have to stay here?" Gaara pondered his options. If he said no the girl would have unsupervised time to try and run. Given how much he had paid for her, he would not allow that to happen. He needed someone to clean the blood around here, and it wasn't going to be him. Besides, it stunk in this dried-up sand castle. His other option, the latter of the two, was the one he ultimately chose; leading her around and showing her where she was and wasn't allowed to set foot. That way he wouldn't have to deal with her going into the wrong rooms.

"Follow me," His tone was mocking as he latched onto her arm. She winced as he pulled her along, and he eased up his grip. Gosh, women were too delicate. What a pain. He released her haughtily, walking up the steps and waiting to hear her follow. He decided to show her the places she couldn't go first. He pointed to a room on the left of the hall.

"That's my room, don't go in there," He watched the dark-eyed girl stare at the room, her mouth opening as if to ask a question. He pointed to the right side. "That is the guest bedroom, so I guess you can use it."

"May I go see it?" She asked, turning to walk towards it.

"Not right now," He grabbed her arm and pulled her along," I have more to show you." He pointed to a flight of stairs, anticipating the threat he was intending to make. "That is the dungeon. If you irritate me that's where you'll go." He smiled as she gulped loudly, but the smile was immediately wiped away as he continued to show her down the hall. Soon, Matsuri learned that there were more rooms that she wasn't allowed to go into then there were that she could. That, in and of itself, was irritating. When Gaara finally disappeared into one of the rooms Matsuri was absolutely, positively restricted from she set about cleaning. The castle, due to sand and blood, was absolutely filthy. She started by cleaning the room she suspected to contain the least amount of blood, the library. Gaara had literally opened the door, said "Library," in a dreary monotone and then slammed the door shut before she could so much as see a single title. Needless to say, exploring the books was what she planned to do with the rest of her day. Matsuri skipped towards the library, pretending that Tenten was beside her chattering away but her newest weapons. She felt her eyes fill with tears once more as she remembered how much she missed her friends. She bit her lip to keep herself from crying as she quickened her pace. The moment she entered the library she lost her capability to speak. Thousands of books sat upon shelves that towered over her. She grinned as she launched herself towards the fist shelf. She beamed at the title, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Her smile faded when she remembered timid little Hinata, as beautiful as she was quiet. She kept the book close to her, as a way to remember a dear friend. The next book was titled Rapunzel and featured a tower. She chuckled at the thought of Temari sitting in a tower, throwing her hair down and letting a prince get his muddy shoes over it. She tucked this book under her arm as well. She continued flipping through the books until she came across Sleeping Beauty. The girl lying on her silky blue bed on the cover looked so much like Ino that it wasn't even funny. They could've been sisters. She smiled as she realized the books she had found were getting to be too numerous to carry, and so she sat them on a coffee table to come back for later. She smiled as she flipped through the books, her eyes detecting The Little Mermaid. She smiled as she realized the only thing the girl on the cover and Karin had in common was fiery red hair. The next book she saw was Cinderella, and her roommate's emerald eyes flashed through her mind. Sakura looked nothing like the blue-eyed blonde on the cover, and that was amusing to Matsuri. Sakura was certainly her own thing. The next book she found struck a pang in her heart.

"Tenten..." She whispered as her hand smoothed over the cover of Mulan. The fearsome woman on the front reminded her of her best friend in uncanny ways, ways that brought tears to her eyes. She quickly turned back to the shelves, her eyes widening at the next book she found. "Beauty and the Beast..." She ran her hand over the illustration on the cover. It was a brunette with curly hair in a yellow ballroom gown dancing with a furry monster. "This was me, wasn't it?" She asked no one in particular as she sat down with her pile of fairy tales. "It will be nice if it has a happy ending," She whispered as her dark eyes began to scour the pages. It wasn't long before she lost herself in her books, forgetting the world around her. And the chores that a certain fiery redhead had sent her off to do.

...

"It's perfect, Danna, un!" Sasori rolled his eyes as the blonde danced in a circle around him. Sasori quickly finished bandaging the blonde's shoulder, turning to face his idiotic friend. If you could call the gender-confused air head that.

"Shut up, brat, I can't focus with you dancing around. And put that lace down," Sasori hissed as he whacked the pink lace from Deidara's hands. Deidara pouted, his sapphire eyes boring into Sasori's pine-tree colored orbs.

"But Daaaaaannnnnaaaa," Sasori winced as Deidara drew out Sasori's annoying nickname. "She needs it to look perfect, un!" Sasori rolled his eyes again as he turned to study the snoozing girl. He envied the fact that she got to sleep through the brat's irritating whining.

"She's covered in that darn lace, brat, give it up." Sasori wrenched the lace out of Deidara's hands once more as the blonde picked it up. He promptly turned and threw it from the window, leaving Deidara to leap after it. Unfortunately, a clay dragon just HAD to be underneath the window and it conveniently managed to fly the lace back up to Deidara.

"Darn brat," Sasori hissed as Deidara began to lather the girl with frills and lace. Deidara then began reapplying makeup, once again, and Sasori's irritation only increased. "You've used enough makeup!" Sasori whacked the offending mascara from his fellow artist's hands, leaving Deidara to put his hands angrily on his hips.

"Danna, this has to be perfect! I've anticipated this moment my entire life, the moment my art would finally get the chance to conquer a prince, the moment my art would show the world what tr-" Deidara was interrupted by a loud, fearsome roar from outside the castle. Both men turned towards the window, peering out to watch a gigantic white dragon glimmer in the sun as it roared.

"Great, now all you need is a prince to actually care enough to save her," Sasori hissed as he turned back to the bed. He sighed in pity for the poor girl, he knew what it felt like to be subjected to the brat's wrath. It was not, by any mean, fun. He wiped off some of the makeup using a handkerchief that sat on the girl's bedside table.

"Danna!" Deidara shrieked as he ran behind the redhead. "Don't ruin it! I worked har-" Deidara was abruptly cut off when Sasori spun around, roughly shoving the handkerchief into Deidara's mouth.

"Let's just do mascara and eyeliner and let nature cover the rest," Sasori hissed at Deidara, who ripped the handkerchief angrily from his mouth.

"Danna, my makeup was per-"

"Do you really think that the prince wants to fight off all your clay creations just to find a girl caked in makeup and buried in lace? Use your brain, brat," Sasori scrunched up his nose at the blonde. "If you still have one, that is." With that, Sasori stood, tentatively checking his watch.

"Danna, they'll arrive soon, right, un?" Deidara stared at his friend as the redhead peered out the window.

"You drew up a map, right?" Sasori asked, his eyes unmoving from the window.

"Yeah, un!" Deidara replied.

"Then it's a matter of time, brat," Sasori checked the time again with a sigh. "I'll leave you to prepare, brat, I don't want to keep Kisame waiting." With that, the dreary redhead launched himself from the window. The blonde watched him go, the smirk unfaltering.

...

Yay! Akatsuki! I've gotten a lot of positive reviews, so I'll continue this ;) I have a lot of ideas for this story, and I hope that everyone can enjoy!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"How the heck are we supposed to read this!?" Temari yelled, tears of frustration feeling her eyes. So much had happened to day, she had lost her roommate and her friend! And that had made her impatient. Lady Tsunade gestured for her to fork over the diary, and Temari did just that. Tsunade's eyes washed over it, and she gnawed on her lip.

"I know exactly where it is," Tsunade spun in her chair, turning to face her computer as she typed something in. "Don't worry, I'll send the information to Prince Academy at once." Tenten fumed at that, and she showed her frustration by slamming her hands down on Tsunade's desk.

"With all due respect, Lady Tsunade, why do we have to throw this into the men's hands!? We women can take care of it!" Tenten glared into Tsunade's murky eyes as the older woman turned back to her computer.

"Fine, Tenten, you are welcome to go. I'm sure you can cover the prince's job, such as administring true love's kiss?" Tsunade grinned as Tenten gagged, knowing that she had won the argument. Tenten glared at her Principal once more.

"I can still try to bring her back so she isn't in the hands of those Akatsuki fools!" Tenten yelled, earning a sigh from Tsunade.

"Fine, Tenten, your life is your responsibility," Tsunade offered a slip of paper to Tenten. The paper supplied the directions on the map to Ino's imprisonment. "Just be careful, don't get yourself killed. And don't come crying to me when you get your butt kicked back home." Tenten frowned, turning to go prepare for her trek. Hinata, much to Tenten's dismay, blocked her path.

"Tenten, please don't go. You might get h-hurt!" The meek girl turned to stammering when all eyes turned on her. Her face turned a colorful red as she sank in on herself.

"Sorry Hinata, I have to go," Tenten murmered, turning around the room. She furrowed her brow when she noticed her best friend wasn't present. "Sakura, where's Matsuri?" Sakura's emerald eyes widened as she lifted her pink locks out of her eyes.

"I-I don't know, the last I saw her...I left her in her room when I learned of Ino's disappearance." Sakura jumped as Tsunade suddenly lunged from her desk.

"What!?" The Principal demanded, her eyes savage as she studied the considerably frightened girls surrounding her. "Is she missing?" The woman demanded, a mixture of worry and stress invading her voice.

"I-I don't know," Sakura said as she stared at the blonde. "What's wrong?"

"We have to find her, if she's gone I'll explain!" Tsunade announced before rushing out of the room, her chocolate eyes studying the halls before she rushed down them, calling Matsuri's name. Karin sighed as Tsunade left, shaking her head.

"Crazy woman, I'm sure Matsuri is in the bathroom or something." Karin shrugged with a small smile. "It's probably nothing to wor-" Karin was interrupted when Tsunade came running down the halls.

"Crap," Tsunade hissed as she attacked her computer. "Crap, crap, crap! Stupid lazy security guards!" Tsunade let out a string of cuss words that were far from G rated. When she finally came away from her computer her eyes were wide and her hair was wild. "The situation with Matsuri is worse that I thought! Ino's problem is, well, a jolly time on comparison." Tsunade sighed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"What's wrong?" Tenten asked, her eyes wide with worry.

"Well, Matsuri had a debt and it was collected..." Tsunade said, clearly not good at explaining things. "And a member of Akatsuki made off with her. Her location is unknown, considering this member wasn't decent enough to lead a map." Tsunade snapped, sighing and collapsing in her chair. "But I have a good idea of where he took Miss Matsuri, and if it is where I think she's in for a heck of a time." The girls took a moment to look at each other.

"Where do you think she is?" Temari finally spoke up, her tropical eyes meeting Tsunade's murky gaze.

"Well, that is not affirmed yet, and we are best to take one problem at a time. First, we have to save Ino. Then we can focus on Matsuri. Besides, if she is where I assume she is none of you would stand a chance." Tenten's hands balled into fists at that. If there were two things she hated, it was sexism and not being able to defend her loved ones. That being said, she decided to prove herself.

"I'll bring Ino back," She announced, drawing all the eyes in the room to her. "And then I'll get Matsuri as well." She tried to hide the pain in her heart as she imagined anything bad happening to her best friend. Over the years Matsuri had grown to be like a sister to her, it would be unforgivable if she let anything happen to her. She had to get stronger, and the first step was saving her friends. Tsunade sighed, shaking her head. Her next words only encouraged Tenten's resolve.

"As you wish."

...

Matsuri smiled dreamily, her dark eyes studying the land outside the window. She imagined a gorgeous prince charming riding across the sandy desert, prepared to give his life to save her. Would he be kind? That was all she really wanted, someone kind and understanding. She sighed as she imagined true love, her first kiss, and other lovely things that danced through her head. The last thing she expected was the wrath of an angry ginger.

"Matsuri!" She jumped in surprise as a hand clawed over her shoulder, whipping her around to face him. "Why the heck is there still blood in my lobby?" Gaara's eyes bore into her as she tried to asses the situation. 'His eyes would be good on my Prince Charming.' She smiled sweetly at him, her thoughts entertaining her. She woke up when the angry ginger gave her a violent shake. He sighed as she came to her senses. He looked around, peering at the library's disheveled state. All of the books had been moved, and no doubt skimmed through by the fool standing next to him. Instead of working she had went through his library. What a waste of gold! As Gaara considered annihilating Kakazu and taking his money back Matsuri decided to sneak out of the room. Given the fact that the walls, or more accurately the sand, had eyes she was quite unsuccessful.

"Wait!" He lurched around, his hand extending towards her. She went to jerk back, but found herself unable to move. She looked down to notice sand wrapped loosely around her arms. She was saved from Gaara's fury by a loud knock. Gaara turned towards the door angrily, and began walking through the halls. Consequently, the sand dragged Matsuri along with him. He didn't bother opening the door, instead having the sand do it for him. When the door opened a group of men with pitchforks were revealed.

"Gaara of the sand, pre-" He was interrupted when the very sand of the desert circled out of ground, wrapping around the suddenly terrified men. They screamed as Gaara held out his arm.

"No!" Matsuri exclaimed as Gaara's hand clenched shut. The screams were silenced, and for a moment Matsuri thought that she was going to go insane."How could you?" The first time she said it was a tiny whisper, lost in the blazing winds of the desert. The second time was a scream. "How could you!?" Her dark eyes met Gaara's light orbs, and both were still. Suddenly, she was released from the sand claw.

"Don't question me," Gaara hissed, walking into his castle. He turned his head over his shoulder and added his next comment as an after-thought. "Clean it up."

...

Tenten trekked down the path, her hot chocolate colored eyes studying her surroundings. A sturdy castle peeked over the distance, puncturing the pastel sunset painting the sky. Tenten walked towards it, her eyes steely as she reminded herself everything she knew about fighting. She could do this, she could save the day. She was just as much of a fighter as any idiot prince that they could send from that worthless Prince Academy. She looked up into the sky as a bird swooped by, dangerously close to her. She watched it flutter to the castle, disappearing into the distance until it was a tiny white speck. She rolled her eyes as she continued her walk boredly. This was taking fooooorever! She squinted towards the castle, wishing for the kabillionth time that she had her horse. She walked, and walked, and walked until her feet felt numb and she cursed herself for wearing the shoes that pinched her big toe. Finally, she began to near the castle. She grinned, but her grin quickly disappeared when a roar echoed through the sky. She whipped her head back and forth, her eyes studying the sky. She eventually caught sight of something the color of an albino rabbit soaring towards her. Unfortunately for Tenten, it was more the size of an elephant than a rabbit. And, from the explosions surrounding it, it had twice the temperament of both creatures.

"Shoot!" Tenten hissed as she threw a few weapons at it. They bounced off of the dragon, leaving a wide-eyed Tenten only one choice : run, run like there's no tomorrow! And she did just that, screaming as she barreled away from her impending doom. She ran back the way she came, every step she took making her feel more and more powerless. 'I really am a wimp,' she thought mournfully, a frown crossing her face as she made her way back to her Academy.

...

Yay! I'm so happy for this story! So much fun ;) Unfortunately, I've been ignoring my other stories for it...Anyways, my plot is unfolding! *fangirl squeals and jumps up and down repeadetly* Please review! :3


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tsunade winced as Tenten slammed her hands on her desk.

"Lady Tsunade, please! I have to grow stronger!" Tenten begged as her hot cocoa eyes dug into Tsunade's murky depths. Tsunade sighed, shaking her head.

"I am not transferring you to an all boy's Academy. That's just ridiculous!" Tsunade exclaimed as she stacked her papers, tucking them into a file. She leaned across her desk, giving her full attention to the teary-eyes girl staring her down.

"Please, you have to help me! If I can't protect my friends what good am I?" Tsunade shook her head, knowing Tenten was going to chase her fate one way or another. With or without Tsuande's help. And Tsunade was wise enough to choose to guide her young student.

"Tenten, you are quite the ambitious girl," Tsunade lightly shook her head, narrowing her eyes. "One day, it may save you. Or it may hurt you. Either way, it is inevitable that you won't give up," She sighed as she skimmed through a file. Tenten watched as Tsunade pulled out a loose paper. "This map will tell you where to go. He will to teach you fighting better than anyone can," Tenten smiled, taking the map and studying the mountain it lead to.

"Thanks Lady Tsunade!" She beamed, turning to leave the room.

"One more thing," Tsunade said with a sigh, coaxing Tenten to turn and face her. "He won't teach girls." Tenten's eyes widened.

"What?" She said, knowing full well what that meant.

"Don't get discovered." Tsunade smiled gently as she gestured for Tenten to go. "And go chase your fate." She whispered the last part, her eyes glued to Tenten's retreating back.

...

"It isn't blood, it is just cherry punch, it isn't blood it is just cherry punch, it isn't blood it is just cherry punch." Matsuri chanted to herself, tears bubbling into her eyes as she mopped at the red substance littered throughout Gaara's castle. She tried to think of nice things, like her best friends since she was five. Think of Tenten, Sari, and Yukata. Think of watching fireworks. Think of your new friends, Sakura, Karin, Hinata, Temari, and Ino. Poor Ino. Locked in a castle, fast asleep. What Matsuri would give to be her right now. Matsuri was brought back to the world when heavy steps echoed down the hall. She tightened her grip on her broom, her dark eyes studying the ground as her red haired captor walked by. They said nothing, and Gaara passed her by without so much as a second glance. With a sigh, Matsuri tried to continue cleaning.

"Think of Spring, think of ice cream, think of cute shoes." She whispered to herself, thinking of all her favorite things. Butterflies, sleep overs, karaoke with friends, cute boys...Who was she kidding? Her eyes skated upwards as Gaara left the hall. He was a cute boy and, right now, he was FAR from her favorite thing. A shiver went down her spine as she tried to refocus. Puppies, popsicles, sunsets, beaches...Ha! Beaches had sand, and she had had enough sand to last her a lifetime. She swore she would never set foot in a beach ever again. She bit her lip as she ran the mop through the puddle. She felt like she was gonna be sick at the maroon stain forming on the bottom of her yellow dress; disgusting. She really needed to change if she was going to be cleaning puddles for the rest of her life. A cold chill turned her blood to something colder than ice at the thought of having to watch people be killed for the rest of her life. She almost fell to the ground, but caught herself when she ended up staring at the liquid.

"It's just melted cherry popsicle," She whispered as the liquid reflected back her own face, her dark eyes filled with fear and grief. What if these people had wives or kids? Lives they could never return to. "They can't because it is just melted cherry popsicles," She whispered, knowing full well that the liquid was something far more gory as she swiped her mop through it. She let out a small squeal when a bit of the dark liquid splashed farther up than usual, staining her skirt up to her knee. Okay, that was the last straw. She barely kept herself from hurling as she ran away, a shrill, panicked scream leaving her lips. She ran to the guest bedroom, or where she was sleeping, and ripped through the drawers. To her surprise she found clothing. She held up a baggy red shirt. She smiled when she realized it was the same color of Karin's hair. She quickly changed out of her dress into the clothing. As soon as it was on she was quick to recognize who it belonged to. And who must've wore it before her, when he was younger. Heck, his name was embroidered in the pants. Matsuri was quick to know that Gaara had once wore the clothing she now adorned. She smiled, ignoring that fact, at the shorts.

"Splash on me now, melted cherry popsicles," She smiled, pulling at the baggy shorts that ended just above her knees. They were comfy and flexible; perfect work clothes. Plus, Gaara probably wouldn't even recognize their absence! She turned and left her room, running immediately into the only other inhabitant of the castle.

"Are those my clothes?" Matsuri picked herself up from the ground, her eyes widened. So much for him not noticing.

"Well, yeah, but I needed better work clothes." Se mumbled, braving meeting his eyes with her own. She stared into his turquoise orbs, and for a moment she seemed to forget the blood on his hands. What beautiful eyes...

"Whatever." His voice was gruff and cruel, and he continued on his way without so much as another glance. She watched him go, a frown on her face.

"So much for human interaction..." She sighed as she brushed herself off, turning to walk down the hall. "This place is in desperate need of a cleaning." She muttered as she studied the dust surrounding her. Maybe she could put of the blood for a while and, instead, clean the dust! She smiled at that idea, choosing to go with the less nauseating option. Maybe the blood would just dry up and go away, or something!

...

Tenten sighed, her eyes studying the path ahead of her. She looked up the rocky, rigid mountain trail that awaited her. With a deep breath, she began up it. She smiled when she thought of her look, she had put her hair in a low bun, bouncing at the nape of her neck. She wore baggy, masculine clothes and wore a bright smile. She looked every bit of the man she was pretending to be, if it wasn't for her face. She had always had a decisively feminine face, and that was serving as a problem for her right now. Luckily, there were lots of men out there with girly looks about them. She could pass for a guy if she kept with the baggy clothes and a fake voice. Besides, with training she wouldn't have much time to talk anyways, right? She entertained thoughts about who this person Tsunade sent her to meet would be like. Would he be rude? She already knew he was a sexist pig due to the fact that he wouldn't take female students. Gross. She rolled her eyes as she danced along the path. She turned to study the moon for a minute, gray and cold as it sat in the distance. Yet she had always thought it to be beautiful. She sighed, continuing up the path and turning her sights from the room to the rocky ground. As she navigated up the steep, rocky mountain the moon was replaced with the shine of the sun. The moon and the sun, so different, yet both are essential to the survival of Earth's inhabitants. Tenten sighed as the sun mercilessly beat down on her. She thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't fair-skinned, if she was she would already have an enormous sun burn. She bit her lip, her mind going to her incredibly fair-skinned friend Ino. Ino was probably stuck in a tower right now, collecting dust. The thought sent shivers of anger down Tenten's spine, and she began to climb a little faster, breaking away from the path and running through brambles and pointed stones. Her mind wandered to her other friend, Matsuri, and she pictured her in the beast's possession. Her face scrunched into determination as she barreled up the mountain, her slow-going turning to a full-out sprint. She had to save her friends, no matter what. She gnawed her bottom lip as she realized that both Ino and Matsuri had officially spent their first nights, alone, in their prisons. She wandered if they, like her, hadn't slept. She cracked a grin when she remembered that all Ino currently could do was sleep, but her face fell again when she imagined Matsuri, restless and sobbing. She imagined Matsuri, her closest friend, hurt and scared. And alone. And suddenly this mountain wasn't a challenge to her, and the burning in her legs from running the entire night was gone. No matter what happened she would protect her friends. When she finally reached the top of the mountain, breathless and exhausted, she saw a rickety brown house. It was more of a house than a cabin, but it was modest either way. She walked towards it, her curiosity pulling her towards it. Suddenly, a metallic object circled around her left shoulder, posing in front of her neck. She stopped, dead in her tracks as she studied the knife held in front of her jugular. However was holding the knife had snuck up on her, and that was irritating.

"Who are you?" The words seemed cold and distant, as if someone was saying them from behind a wall. Tenten grasped at the hand holding the knife before she answered.

"My name is Qing." Tenten said, smiling at the decidedly masculine name. The knife came a little closer to her neck and the smile faded.

"Alright, Qing, what business do you have here?" She took in a testy breath, her eyes trained on the knife.

"I wanted to train, to grow stronger. I want to be able to protect my friends." Tenten watched as the knife lowered, and she was spun around to face a boy. He looked about 17, maybe 18. He was tall and lean, and he had long brown hair that fell to his waist in a low ponytail. He was very attractive, but what intrigued Tenten the most was his eyes. His eyes were a light gray, and cold and distant, similar to the moon. She stared into his eyes, momentarily lost. Then she remembered that this was the sexist pig that she had to pretend to be a man in front of in order to get trained by. And his eyes didn't seem so mystical.

"Why should I train you?" He asked, tucking the knife into his training pants. He glared at Tenten, an expectant look on his face.

"Well...I guess I'll owe you something?" Tenten hadn't thought about that. She cursed herself for thinking that it would all be for free. Baka!

"How about you'll be indebted to me. You'll owe me a favor that I can call in at anytime." The boy watched as she considered that proposition. Seeing no other way, Tenten gave a nod.

"I agree to that. I'll owe you one favor." Tenten stared at him with steely cocoa eyes.

"My name is Neji, but as long as you are training under me you will call me Sensei." Neji glared at her as she nodded, quickly giving her assent.

"Yes, Sensei." She did her best to keep her voice from being sarcastic. This guy was practically her age!

"Alright, let's start training right now." Neji fell back into a fighting stance, leaving Tenten a bit confused.

"Are we...sparring?" Tenten asked, scrunching her face up in confusion.

"Yes." Neji growled, his sharp answer sounding annoyed. "If you can't hold your own for five minutes you are going to have one hundred push-ups." Tenten grinned at his cockiness. She was sure to show him. She charged at him, noticing veins bulge around his eyes. Weird... She ignored that and sent a punch towards his cheek. She frowned when he blocked it, grabbing her arm and throwing strikes along it. She quickly threw her leg at his head, and he ducked down, avoiding it. He jumped away, glaring at her as blood suddenly came out of her mouth.

"Wh-what?" She whispered as she dabbed at the red liquid seeping from her mouth. She coughed, watching as more came out. What? Neji sighed loudly, walking over to her.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought." He hissed as he pulled up her sleeve, revealing tons of wounds. Tenten gaped at them, her eyes wide as she assented with him; this would be hard.

...

Yay! I got to include Neji ;) In my universe he never died! Anyways, in this story Matsuri was trying to cope with cleaning the blood by calling it 'cherry punch' and 'melted popsicles.' just in case anyone was confused ;) Thanks for reading, and please review!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Matsuri had a hard time sleeping. Every time she was close to slipping into her dreams images of the blood puddles ran through her mind. She sighed as it became evident that rest refused to come to her. She had worked hard today, she needed to catch a few Z's. Her belly rumbled lightly, reminding her that Gaara had refused her food. She frowned as she remembered his coldness...

Gaara stood in the kitchen, watching Matsuri cook. She was not yet aware of his presence, all her attention focused on the rising bread. When the redhead finally spoke he nearly gave her a heart attack.

"Why isn't the blood cleaned?" She leapt in the air, yelping as she spun around to face him.

"I was scared..." She said as the oven went off. She spun around, pulling the bread from the oven and setting it on the counter. Just as Matsuri was going to begin eating Gaara strolled around the counter. His turquoise eyes gleamed evilly as he took the bread, his voice lecturing.

"Since you're new I'll cut you some slack; clean it up and you can eat." She lunged for it, and in response he lifted it up higher. After a while of jumping for her food Gaara became sick of her foolishness. Using his sand Matsuri was dangled in the air. She watched as he began eating it, staring into her umber eyes.

"But I made that...That isn't fair!" Matsuri complained, her eyes watering. He grinned wolfishly at her.

"You made it out of my stuff." Suddenly, Matsuri was dropped to the ground. "Now go clean the mess."

...Matsuri sighed at the memory, blushing as she remembered him watching her clean his puddles of blood. Okay, it was official, she had to get out of here. She snuck over to the door, attempting to open it. She gasped angrily when it refused to budge, frowning and slamming herself against the door.

"Ow!" She hissed, holding her shoulder. She flipped her eyes over to the window on the far side of her room. She snuck over to it, pulling it up quickly. She looked back and forth, and then looked down. She gulped at the long distance, wandering if she could climb down...She put one of her feet out, setting it firmly on the edge. It was time to stage her escape. Just as she had gotten her butt out of the window her door slammed open.

"Mats-" Gaara stopped talking, dropping the stained shirt he had been holding earlier. Matsuri felt panic fill her as pure rage entered his face. He outstretched his hand and Matsuri began backing out of the window a bit faster. Just as she had popped through she looked down into the desert below her. She nearly screamed when she noticed a giant sand tidal wave aimed for her. She pressed her back against the open window, knowing that it was too late for her to do anything as it came crashing towards her. The sand wrapped around her, and for a moment she thought that she would be suffocated. She closed her eyes tightly as something firmly wrapped around her. After a moment of stillness she dared to open her eyes. She gaped as a woman made of sand stared back at her, the woman's face solemn. She looked down to see herself enwrapped in a hand of sand. She turned back to the window to see Gaara glaring at her.

"Thinking of escaping, I see." Gaara growled in a tone that sent shivers of fear down Matsuri's spine.

"I wanted some fresh air..." Matsuri winced as Gaara's glare turned more fearsome at her lie.

"You won't be thinking of escape if you don't have arms." Gaara said, his voice contemplative. Panic ran through Matsuri and she gulped loudly.

"Um, well...About that, if I don't have arms I won't be able to clean and stuff." Matsuri smiled sheepishly, and the blood-thirsty grin she received from Gaara told her that it might have been better if she had just lost her arm.

"You're right, a more creative punishment is in order." Gaara snickered at that, a malicious sound that sent chills down Matsuri's spine. She felt herself being lowered until she was dropped onto the ground. She tumbled about five feet before she hit the ground with a smashing impact. She tried to recover her breath, but she felt herself being pulled to her shaky legs once more. She was pulled up off of the ground so that she met Gaara's eyes.

"I'm sorry?" She squeaked, knowing it was far too late. Gaara's face contorted into a malicious smile.

"You will be soon." He smiled, dropping her carelessly and having the sand pull her along.

...

"125...126...127..." Tenten panted as she did her pushups. Her arms shook beneath her and her sweat was soaking through her clothes. She felt Neji's cold eyes on her back. She felt his foot meet her back, knocking her down.

"Weak." Neji growled, his voice condescending. Tenten's cheeks flamed red from exhaustion, embarrassment, and anger. That was the fourth time he had called her weak this morning. She glared into his cold violet eyes, her breath shallow. "You are hopeless." Neji sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Tenten bit her lip, a mixture of anger and impatience building within her.

"Can you start with easier workouts then twenty laps, four hundred crunches, and five hundred pushups?" Sarcasm dripped in Tenten's tone as she stared at Neji. Neji snorted, a sound that was rather atypical from him, before speaking.

"You're lucky I let you do crunches instead of sit-ups. I was going easy on you," Tenten put a hand on her hip, opening her mouth to haughtily reply. "If you don't like my training then leave my mountain." Neji growled hatefully, his cold eyes boring into Tenten. For a moment, Tenten considered leaving. If she couldn't find another person to train her she could always train herself. But then again, that would be letting this sexist son of a gun win. That would be proving that a girl couldn't stand his ruthless training. A small smile stretched across her face as an idea popped into her head. She would wait until her training was complete and then she would reveal her gender to him. How do you like that, you sexist creep? She grinned at him, and his eyes flashed back emotionlessly.

"I'll stay." She said, bending down and beginning her push-ups once more. She ignored her muscles as they screamed in agony, fueling herself with the image of Neji's face when he knew she was female. Oh, and that she had to help her friends. That was very important too.

"Hurry up, I'm going to go fix lunch." Neji's voice was derogatory, but Tenten ignored his condescending speech patterns and instead focused on her push-ups. By golly she was going to save her friends if it was the last thing she did on this planet. A delicious smell wafted from Neji's hut, and Tenten's stomach suddenly felt a whole lot hungrier. She watched as he walked out of the cottage holding two bowl, one he began to eat and the other he placed in front of Tenten. She blushed as her stomach growled loudly at the bowl, beckoning for her to stop her push-ups and to start eating. She ignored her urges to eat, instead focusing on her work-outs.

"Strength is in the will of a person. It is found within their resolve," Neji smiled lightly at her as she glared at him. She would've responded had she not been busy trying to resist the food tempting her.

"305...306...307..." She had began to pick up the pace, ignoring the not-so-subtle shaking of her arms. She gulped in air at every chance she had, her panting growing almost as drastically as the burn of her overused muscles. When she finally reached 400 she felt as though she would collapse.

"That's enough. Eat, then you can do the rest." Tenten immediately complied, dropping to the ground and eating heartily.

"You aren't too bad, Qing. Most would've left earlier." Tenten nodded as she ate, not bothering to slow down. She acknowledged him with a quick nod, then turned back to her food. "That being said, you need a lot of work." At that, Tenten choked. She spat out the offending food, glaring at Neji. He laughed in return, a surprisingly nice sound. "I'm serious, by the time I'm done with you you'll be a man," He took the empty soup bowls, stacking them quickly. "There are many things you're lacking in, but mister I'll make a man out of you." Tenten frowned at how familiar the words seemed. However, she ignored it, trailing after Neji as her muscles relaxed. Unfortunately, most of her muscles were still screaming in protest as she followed her Sensei.

"Ugh. This training makes my muscles ache." She complained, subbing her shoulder. Neji turned around, his eyes back to the cold, emotionless stare.

"Don't you have 100 push-ups left?" Tenten groaned, walking back outside and practically collapsing on the ground. He was definitely the worst teacher known to man.

...

"Tenten, Ino, and Matsuri." Sakura stared at her bedroom wall as Hinata's fingers danced over her hair. Recently, Sakura had began using a headband to keep her hair out of her face. Her hair was still long and following, reaching all the way to her waist. "Matsuri was my fault." Sakura said, tears filling her eyes.

"I'm calling BS on that one, sister." Sakura turned to where Karin sat, munching on a bag of chips as Temari painted her nails. "If you had been there the kidnapper would've killed you or something."

"Ye-Yes, Sakura, you couldn't have st-stopped a bounty hunter." Sakura sighed at that, knowing that it was probably truthful. She couldn't have stopped him. But maybe he would not have came if she had been there.

"I think the freak used Ino's disappearance as a diversion." Temari stated as she finished Karin's left hand. Karin blew on the nails herself, releasing Temari from her nail-painting duty. Temari stood and stretched, yawning loudly. "I say we just focus on our 'princess etiquette' lessons until we start to get our magic." Temari said as she slumped down behind Hinata.

"I-I'm worried about them..." Hinata stared at the ground, a blush on her face as she tied off Sakura's loose braid. She immediately began working on Temari's hair. Karin yawned loudly, nodding as she did so.

"I miss 'em. But I am also kind of jealous." Karin said, earning the attention of everyone in the room.

"How so?" Temari asked, staring at Karin suspiciously.

"Well, they get to be out there, living their lives! I mean, Ino is waiting in a castle for her true love, which is sorta romantic, Tenten is out there training somewhere to be a fighter powerful to take on an Akatsuki member, and Matsuri is developing a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome and probably making out with her most likely incredibly-attractive captor right now. And we are all sitting here, braiding hair, painting toe nails, and missing our friends. Does that sound right to any of you?" Karin finished blowing her nails dry and flopped down on her back.

"She has a point," Temari said, a frown twisted on her face. "Bot only Karin would want a curse inflicted on her." This earned a few giggled from Sakura and Hinata. Karin shook her head at her friends, a dreamy look on her face.

"Whatever, guys. When I get to live my life I am not gonna waste it. I'm gonna take chances and have no regrets," Karin blinked once, yawning loudly and stretching across the floor. "I'm tired, goodnight." With that, Karin evacuated the room. Temari stared after her, stretching a bit.

"I'm tired too," She said, knocking Hinata from her hair. "Goodnight, ladies. I wish you as good of rest as Ino's." She blew a kiss before fading from the room, walking off to her own room. Hinata wrapped her arms around Sakura quickly.

"Goodnight, Sakura." She said before darting off to her own room. Sakura sighed, standing up and turning off the lights in her room. She stared at the moon before bursting into tears. Sakura cursed her life. Of course the moment she became good friends with Ino, Matsuri, and Tenten they would be ripped away. Now all that was left was her, the pink-haired freak as her old bullies often said, a shy heiress, and two sassy, buxom girls. Oh, and four curses. Don't forget the lovely, lovely curses.

...

Yay! i finally got this out! Anyways, you may notice that Neji's dialogue is a bit strange when he is talking to Tenten.

"Mister I'll make a man out of you," This is an exact line in movie 'Mulan.' It is from Shang, who Neji is supposed to sorta be right now. Just like how Tenten is Mulan! :) Thanks for reading and please review!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Matsuri's eyes blinked slowly open. She frowned, looking back and forth and wandering where she was. She tried to stand, only to realize that she was chained down.

"Awake?" She looked up to see spiky red hair and deep turquoise eyes. She frowned as the memories came back to her. She had been given to a murdering psychopath, had tried to escape, and had been taken down to the dungeon. She blushed as she remembered what had happened.

Gaara stormed through the halls, anger radiating off of him. Matsuri had never been more afraid in her life, her heart was beating so fast she thought that it would burst from her chest. However, she had no such luck as Gaara stomped down into the dungeon, not bothering to use his hands to open the door, instead having his sand slam it nearly off its hinges. She noticed, with disgust, a dark red liquid dried against the walls and squishing under Gaara's steps. An air of nausea hit her at the thought of where that blood might've come from. As they walked by a mutilated corpse Matsuri felt as though she was going to puke. Matsuri gagged as Gaara dropped her carelessly next to a puddle of the maroon liquid. She backed away quickly, her face turning a sick shade of green. She turned away from the pile of blood only to find herself face to face with a skeleton. And that did it. Gaara watched, curiously, as Masuri's eyes rolled back into her head, her body limply hitting the ground with a light thud.

"I fainted?" Matsuri asked, squinting up at Gaara. She tried not to think of the corpses around her, focusing only on Gaara's eyes. Gaara grunted in reply, anger still tracing his features. 'At least he doesn't seem as angry now,' Matsuri thought as Gaara quickly released her restraints.

"Don't ever try anything like that again or I'll make you clean down here." Matsuri shivered at that thought, deciding if she was going to escape she would definitely have to be more careful. Touching those nasty corpses was the last thing she wanted to do. She followed Gaara closely as they went up the stairs, holding onto the back of his shirt and avoiding looking at the death surrounding her.

"Get off of me." Gaara hissed threateningly, trying to shake the terrified brunette off. Unfortunately, Matsuri was clinging to him for her life, her dark chestnut-colored eyes widened as she used her best puppy-face. Gaara glared at her, sighing and continuing up the steps. "Nuisance." He hissed as he tried his best to ignore her hands brushing against his back. He frowned as a small blush came onto his face, and this time when he slammed the door open it came off of its hinges.

"Fix that." He growled, keeping his head down as he scurried off down the hallway. Matsuri watched him go before turning back to the door.

"Fix your own darn door." She muttered to herself as she tried to force it back into place. How to go about fixing it? Well, duck tape always works.

...

Gaara had always considered himself a rational person. This was because he was, indeed, very reasonable. But when he came down the hall to check on Matsuri's progress on fixing the door nearly all hints of rationality disappeared.

"Matsuri," He closed his eyes, keeping his voice level so that she couldn't detect the underlying rage. "What are you doing?" He opened his eyes to watch as Matsuri whirled around, a smile on her face.

"Fixing the door, of course!" She chirped, the happiness in her tone grating on his nerves.

"With duct tape?" Gaara snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. A few knocks sounded on the door, drawing their attention.

"I'll go see who it is!" Matsuri said before rushing down the hall, not bothering to look back at him. He sighed, ripping the door off its hinges using sand. He replaced the wooden door with a make-shift sand one. He frowned at the sound of yelling down the hall. He turned, quickening his pace when he recognized Matsuri's worried tone.

"She's staying with that monster! She's a whore!" Gaara's walk turned to a run as he recognized who had come to the door. He should've known. As he arrived the burn of torches and gleam of pitchforks caught his eye. He watched as one of the men grabbed Matsuri roughly, throwing her to the ground. It took only a second for Gaara to place a sand wall between the idiots and his terrified servant. He listened to them scream as the sand trapped the small group. He looked down to see Matsuri's expressive eyes wide as she stared at him, her look begging. With a sigh he pushed the sand the men were in out of the house, dropping them in the middle of the desert.

"Y-You didn't kill them?" She whispered, rubbing her arm as she stood. Gaara grabbed said arm, pulling up the sleeve and studying the developing bruise. He dropped her injured limb roughly, glaring at her before turning away.

"They'll just be back." With that he turned and left the hall, ignoring Matsuri's eyes on his back as he went. "Go back to cleaning or something." Gaara snarled over his shoulder, not knowing what else to say. He blushed when a light giggle sounded behind him, his turquoise eyes narrowing into little slits. Not funny.

...

Hinata stared at the wall, her pearl eyes large and round. Sakura snapped in front of her face for the one hundredth time yet, sighing as she was ignored once more. She twirled her pencil around her fingers, watching Temari out of the corner of her eyes. Recently the beige haired girl had began to gain control of magic of some sort, her pencil flying into the air and floating for a moment before crashing back to the ground. Sakura watched, enthralled, as Temari strained to keep the pencil in the air for longer than a few seconds.

"One...Two...Three...Four...Five..." Karin counted excitedly until the pencil was suddenly plucked from the air, ruining Temari's spell. Temari glowered up at the woman standing in front of her.

"Temari," Kurenai began as she ran a hand through her midnight black curls. "I'm glad to see how you've progressed in your spells. However, I don't think that levitating pencils will help you avoid curses." Kurenai gestured towards the board where complex statements drawled in cursive explained narrow loopholes that appeared in several of the spells. Sakura sighed as she read through them. There were ways to spot an escape, to find a faulty curse. It just depended on how hard you looked. Sakura watched as Kurenai snapped her fingers in front of Hinata's face, gaining her attention with a start.

"Oh! Sensei! S-sorry.." Hinata studied her lap, a large blush on her face. Kurenai smiled gently before turning back to the lesson.

"Just pay attention next time, okay?" She announced as she made her way back the board, tapping it twice to gain the others' attention. Sakura sighed, turning again to talk to Hinata. She frowned as she noticed Hinata staring out the window, a smile on her face. Sakura watched as she lifted her hand, waving elegantly at someone and blushing hard when the wave was returned. Sakura strained to see a boy standing at the fence, spiky blonde hair framing his handsome tan face. His wide cerulean eyes were bright as they studied Hinata's pale purple hues. Hinata turned away, blushing femininely as she pressed her fingers together. Sakura watched as someone called the blonde away. She strained to see another boy with brown hair and a tan face hit the blonde over the head as they headed back towards the building. Sakura turned to study Hinata with a raised eyebrow.

"So, Hinata who was that?" Hinata turned crimson as she sheepishly turned to meet Sakura's emerald gaze.

"I-I don't know him, S-Sakura." Hinata studied her notebook. She picked up a pencil and began to scrawl down notes that she had missed, copying the board vehemently.

"Did you think he was cute?" Sakura grinned as the word 'cute' attracted both Karin and Temari's attention. Hinata blushed as the girls quickly swooped around her, moving to surround her on all sides.

"Who did you think was cute?" Karin asked the blushing Hyuuga.

"I-I don't know him," Hinata responded sheepishly, averting her eyes from Karin's fuchsia eyes.

"Sakura, what happened?" Temari questioned, knowing Hinata would not willingly give the information.

"Hinata was staring out the window and this blonde boy waved at her." Sakura reported as Hinata blushed deeply, her eyes glued to her folded hands.

"Blonde boy? Do describe." Karin smiled, leaning in to hear better.

"Well, he was tan, he had blue eyes, three marks on each cheek, and really spiky blonde hair." Sakura smiled as Hinata blushed deeper with each word. A large smile stretched across Karin's face at that.

"It sounds like you're describing Naruto! He's my cousin!" Karin grinned, earning a devilish smile from Temari. They whispered something to each other, both giggling. "I can hook the two of you up if you'd like." Hinata blushed harder, shaking her head lightly.

"I-I want to h-hear the lesson." Hinata's voice was barely a whisper that was quickly disregarded.

"Do you want to meet Naruto?" Temari asked with a smile. All three of the girls smiled at Hinata's hesitant response.

...

So much GaaMatsu in this chapter! Argh! I love it :3 Unfortunately, there is no NejiTen...T-T I don't know what else to say...I guess sorry for not updating so long and please review! ;)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Naruto swiped the white towel out of his friend's grip, his azure eyes wandering back to the girl he had seen in the window.

"Eh! Kiba! Did you see her?" Naruto yelled at the brunette that was currently petting a small white puppy. Kiba looked up, his bister eyes studying Naruto.

"Who?" He asked, taking the towel from Naruto with a quick yank.

"The hottie in the window! She must've hade double D's!" Naruto's eyes transferred back to the window to see her pearl eyes no longer on him. "See!?" Kiba turned to look in the window, one eyebrow up. His eyes were quick to identify the dark-haired girl's chest size. He let out a long, low whistle.

"Whoa! She has freaking huge melons! Nice *ss detection!" Kiba gave Naruto a high-five, whooping all the while. Both pairs of eyes went back to the window to study the other girls.

"The one with the blonde hair has got to be a C," Naruto said as he tried to get a good angle on the green-eyed girl's chest.

"Look at the redhead! Hers are pretty big!" Kiba announced as he squinted at the buxom's girl's rather large breasts.

"Hey! That's Karin! She's my cousin, don't look at her jugs!" Naruto exclaimed as he gave Kiba a well-deserved whack over the head. "Baka!" Kiba, however, was quick to move on and study the next girl.

"The one with the pink hair is awful flat," He scrunched up his nose as the pinkette turned towards the window, giving him a full display of her petite figure. "Bleh, she's an A-." Kiba jeered, snickering as he watched Sakura. "Surprisingly, she's still hot." Naruto peered over Kiba's shoulder, staring at the pinkette.

"She's cute, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled, his eyes running over Sakura's pink hair, emerald eyes, fair skin, and minuscule curves. Kiba looked at him like he had grown another head.

"Okay, Naruto, you can have pinkie and I get curvy!" Kiba grinned, earning a glare from Naruto.

"No fair, Kiba, I saw double D's first!" Naruto complained as he pushed the dog-lover aside. Kiba pushed back, and soon their goofing off resulted in a full-out fight. After only a few minutes of pointless wrestling a noise sounded from the girls' school. Kiba and Naruto quickly separated as tons of girls spilled out of the school's entrance, talking and laughing. Naruto watched as double D's, as he called her, walked out slowly. He watched as his cousin waved him over happily, one hand clamped onto the dark-haired girl's shoulder. Naruto smirked at Kiba, who glowered in return. With that, Naruto sprinted over to the fence separating him from his cousin.

"Hey, Karin!" Naruto screeched as he grinned at the redhead. She hesitantly smiled back, her hand never leaving her furiously blushing friend.

"Hey, Naruto! This is Hinata!" Karin sang, gesturing to the big-eyed girl her hand was clamped onto. Hinata looked up slowly, her amaranthine eyes digging into Naruto's sky-blue orbs. They both froze, simply staring into each other's eyes. Their gaze was interrupted when Karin's loud voice cut in. "This is Sakura," The flat-chested pinkette waved at Naruto jovially. He grinned back. "And, finally, Temari." Temari glared at Naruto, a smirk curling onto her lips.

"What's up?" She asked, a hand going to her hip. Before Naruto could respond Karin continued talking.

"Hinata thinks you're cute, you two should go out!" Karin grinned, oblivious to the fact that those around her were taking back by her bluntness. Hinata blushed deeply, her pearly eyes refusing to meet Naruto's teal hues.

"K-Karin..." Hinata whispered as Karin impatiently waited for Naruto's response.

"Well, that was blunt, dattebayo..." Naruto laughed sheepishly, scrubbing the back of his head. Hinata's blush turned a few shades darker and her eyes never left the ground.

"H-he doesn't want to, K-Karin..." Hinata started to turn around, wanting to get away from this humiliation. She was surprised when someone roughly grabbed her arm, and turned to see a tan arm on her own. Her face turned a bright fuschia at the sudden human contact, her already big eyes widening. For a moment, she swooned as though she was going to faint. Temari prepared to catch the unstable Hyuuga, but Hinata managed to stay upright and conscious. Naruto seemed oblivious to the girl's discomfort as he smiled jovially at her.

"Wait, I want to go out, it's just sorta sudden," He grinned at her, trying to keep his eyes from wandering to her ample breasts. The temptation... "Heh." He laughed nervously, releasing her arm. Her wide eyes studied his muscular, tan arm as it snaked back over the fence and ended up scrubbing the back of his head.

"Number?" He pulled out his cell phone, jabbing it at her. She studied it with wide eyes before taking it. Her hands shook as she pulled her own out. She tried not to let the act that she was,for the first time ever, exchanging phone numbers with a boy. And a really, really cute boy at that! She bit her lip as she quickly put her number in his phone. She tried to keep her shaking to a minimum as she pressed his phone back into his hands, taking her own quickly. Unfortunately, she shook so much that she nearly dropped both her phone and Naruto's. She tried not to blush as Karin and the rest of her group yelled their farewells, waving to the blonde as they steered her back to the Academy. She gave Naruto one last wave, and he beamed at her in return. She giggled as her eyes skated over the new contact in her phone. Suddenly, her phone began vibrating. She nearly passed out when she realized that the text was from the blonde that she had just established a date with.

...

Karin smiled as Hinata's phone went off. She watched jovially as the Hyuuga quickly dismissed herself, skirting off to read her message in private. Karin sniggered knowingly with Temari, ignoring Sakura's stare of confusion. Sakura shook her head, rolling her eyes at her friends.

"I'm going to go study for our test tomorrow. We have to do that make up spell and what-knot." Temari waved her hand dismissively as Sakura spoke.

"That spell's so stupid, anyone can do it." To prove her point she zapped a fresh doze of mascara onto Sakura's eyelashes. Sakura's face fell.

"Well not everyone is an expert at magic, Temari." Sakura snapped, glaring at her friends before storming towards her dorm.

"What crawled up her *ss and died?" Temari asked, nudging the redhead. Temari stared after Sakura quizzically until a soft 'thump' sounded behind her. She turned to see Karin sitting on the ground, a dazed look on her face. "Karin?" Temari rushed to her friend, attempting to help her up. She snapped in front of Karin's face, but her crimson eyes continued to stare blankly in front of her. Temari tried to pull Karin upwards, but the redhead simply fell to the ground limply. Just as Temari was getting ready to call for 'help' something hard made contact with the back of her head. Temari fell to the ground, darkness filling her eyes. The last thing she saw was a flash of blue as someone carried off her friend.

...

Tenten had long since given up on catching her breath. She could feel Neji's eyes boring into her back as she climbed. For what seemed like the umpteenth time her feet slipped out from under her. She cried out, clinging to the rocks.

"Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down," She chanted the three words that had become her mantra in between her desperate pants for air. She shivered against the bitter cold, the sweat soaking her clothing feeling like ice. She glared at Neji as he passed her once again, smiling at her cooly as he took the upper hand. She cursed him under her breath. Who the heck climbed mountains for fun? And who the heck considered climbing mountains training? She yelped as her foot suddenly slipped out beneath her. She closed her eyes as she found new footing, not wanting to make the mistake of looking at the abyss beneath her. She was already terrified enough as it was, she didn't need the fact that if she fell she would fall to her death weighing her down. She gulped nervously before finding her next foot hold. She moved slowly up the mountain, trying not to notice the fact that she was at the perfect angle to view Neji's rather nice butt.

"Are we almost there?" Tenten mustered up every piece of energy she had to yell at him. She awaited his reply impatiently. She watched as he disappeared in a crook of rock above her. She sighed, assuming that that meant they would be stopping for the night. She lugged herself into the tiny opening, scooting after him.

"We'll take a short break here." Neji's voice was as cold as the rigid air of the cave. Tenten ignored the cold, instead focusing on resting her aching muscles. She sighed, leaning back against the cave wall as she massaged her own shoulders. "Are you cold?" Neji's voice snapped Tenten back to attention. She responded with a quick nod. As if her shivering hadn't been obvious enough. She watched as he quickly removed his outer robe, throwing it over her shoulders.

"I expect you to give it back," He muttered, his pearly eyes not quite meeting her hot chocolate hues. She beamed at him, scooting across the cave until she reached him. She pressed herself against him, wrapping the cloth around both of them. He looked as though he was going to object, but his spastic shivers made it hard to claim that he wasn't cold. He allowed her to cuddle him grudgingly, his eyes suddenly widening. He looked down to her, having felt something soft squish against him.

"What do you have on your chest?" He asked, scooting away from her suspiciously. Tenten cursed when she remembered the fact that, do to her clothes being soaked through, her wrappings weren't going to hide her boobs. The only thing she could think to do was play dumb.

"My chest?" Tenten asked as she pulled the blanket around her. "Clothes?" She rose an eyebrow as Neji narrowed his eyes at her.

'I must be paranoid,' Neji thought as he crawled back towards her. Neji only allowed a few minutes of sharing warmth before he demanded that they move on by ripping the cloth from Tenten's hands and darting out of the crevice. Tenten was only a few steps behind him.

...

Yay! Nejiten! ;) This chapter is supposed to be a prelude to Karin's curse, I guess...who really knows? Anyways, I won't be able to write for a few days at least because the driving portion of my vacation is FINALLY over so I am actually going ti be busy! Yay! Please review, and thanks for your wonderful support! ;D


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kisame stood by the side of the water, boredom evident on his cobalt face. A slow smile stretched across his face as he sensed a presence behind him.

"Took you long enough, kohai." He said, not bothering to turn and look at the white-haired boy as he squatted beside him. Kisame watched disinterestedly as Suigetsu poked the redhead sprawled across the ground.

"Who is this, Kisame?" Suigetsu turned and studied the shark-like man behind him.

"My final. Now go take her out into the ocean." Kisame pointed out to where the blue tides rolled in, the moon shimmering against the water in the darkness. Suigetsu frowned, snorting in mock disbeleif.

"She'll drown. And why would I do something stupid like that?" Suigetsu pulled at the red hair, intrigued by the bright, bizarre magenta coloring.

"Because when the sun comes up, she'll be fine in the water." Kisame's curt response was less than satisfying to Suigetsu.

"Explain," Suigetsu demanded as he began to curl a strand of hair around his finger, studying the way it fell limply back to the girl's back. Kisame sighed, falling lazily into a crouch.

"Listen, just keep the girl away from humans and out in the oceans. I need her to be alone in order to pass my final exams, and after I've graduated you can do with her what you see fit. And I'll owe you a favor." Kisame sighed as Suigetsu skeptically wrinkled his nose at him.

"Why can't you keep her out there by yourself?" Kisame grinned at Suigetsu's question, turning his head to study the dark expanses of the ocean.

"I promised Itachi I would help him later. Besides, I need your shape-shifting watery stuff, Suigetsu. She needs to think you're one of her people and gain your trust." Kisame yanked the strand of red hair from Suigetsu's hand, dropping it to the ground. "So just do it and stop complaining." Suigetsu scowled, turning his eyes to study the girl. Her unruly red hair twisted and snaked down her back, framing her pale face and making her dark eyelashes stand out even more. He rubbed her cheek, surprised to find the surface deliciously soft.

"Why would she need to think I'm one of her people? There are plenty of humans out there." Suigetsu was surprised by the smirk residing on Kisame's face.

"You don't know, do you you idiot?" Kisame chortled as Suigetsu narrowed his eyes in a glare.

"I don't know what?" Suigetsu snapped, earning another chuckle from Kisame.

"The curse changes her. Just wait and see. I already saw to replacing her memory, you're an old friend of hers now, but her body will change when the sun rises. Why do you think we're so close to the ocean?" Kisame stood, heaving a large, bandaged sword over his shoulder and onto his back. "Have fun."

Suigetsu rose an eyebrow as his upperclassmen walked leisurely off before turning back to the snoozing redhead. For a moment, he though of just leaving her there. Screw Kisame and his worthless favor. But then again, he could use a favor just in case he ended up in a rough spot...With an annoyed sigh he stood, preparing to watch the sun rise over the waves. It was looking to be around time for the day to begin, anyways. He looked down at the pretty little pest he was officially stuck with, heaving out another aggravated sigh. Welcome to the unfortunate, as well as annoying, life of Suigetsu Hozuki. A small smile cracked over his face as the sun began peaking over the clouds, spilling an array of orange, pink, and red over the ocean's reflective waters. It was quite beautiful in Suigetsu's mind, and had the fishman completely enthralled until something else started sparkling.

"What the.." Suigetsu stared with wide eyes as the redhead literally began sparkling a light green, magic wrapping around her long, pale legs. He froze in a mixture of shock and confusion as he stared at the once-human redhead. He was going to kill Kisame, that insolent shark, the next time he saw him. "a flipping mermaid?" He was woke back up when said mermaid let out a small moan, her eyes twitching open.

'Oh crap...she probably should be in the water!' Suigetsu thought as he leapt forward, scooping up the drowsy redhead and tossing her in the water. He followed shortly after, shifting into a merman.

'D*mn you Kisame, you selfish jerk. Leaving me of all people with your problems...' Suigetsu thought groggily as he watched the girl wake up. She stared at him in mild confusion.

"Suigetsu?" She asked, rubbing her head as he long hair danced around her in the water. A slight blush formed on Sigetsus face at the rather alluring sight, but that blush quickly faded as her voice sounded again. "My memory seems all foggy." He quickly tried to think up an excuse, coming up with only one good one.

"Um, you hit your head." He silently cursed Kiasme for leaving him here without telling him he girl's name. The idiot probably didn't know it either.

"Oh...I remember you, but nothing else..." She paused, putting a finger to her chin questioningly. "Not even my name..." Suigetsu took a moment to bless Kisame's soul. At least Suigetsu could make up some name for the girl. He looked over to her, studying everything from the green scales where her legs should be to the way her hair slid elegantly through the water. He was reminded of a cheesy, stupid old fairy tale.

"You forgot your name, Ariel? That's just like you, you klutz." He forced out a laugh as she urned to him, one eyebrow raised. He silently prayed to the Heaven's above that she didn't remember the tale of the Little Mermaid. If she did, he was dead.

"I'm not a klutz!" The girl he had dubbed 'Ariel' claimed, crossing her arms in irritation. "Think before you speak, white head." He smirked at her, slightly proud of the fact that he had gotten away with naming her something surreal and obviously fake. Once more, Suigetsu took a moment to thank whatever great force was looking out for him.

"Says the woman who ungracefully hit her head and forgot her name. You really are a handful, pimple." He grinned at the outrage on her face as she looked at him. She self-consciously grabbed a handful of red hair, glaring at him as she pulled it around her.

"Pimple?" She hissed as she stroked her silky curls. He grinned as her eyes dug into him questioningly, noticing for the first time that her eyes matched her crimson hair.

"Yeah, it references the zit-like color of your hair. I should've told you your name was Pimple, it would've been a heck of a lot more amusing." Suigetsu's grin widened at the raw anger on her face.

"You jerk! If you're my only friend, no wonder I hit my head! It was probably a suicide attempt!" She screeched, outrage possessing her entrancing features. Suigetsu was suddenly glad that he had agreed to baby-sitting zit-head for Kisame, she was loads of fun with her defensive nature and hilarious facial expressions. He chuckled as she began aimlessly yelling insults. If all he had to do was entertain her and keep her separated from humanity this would be a breeze!

...

Matsuri inwardly lectured herself for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She tried to get rid of the blush stained on her tan cheeks by taking an ice-cold shower, but nothing seemed to be working. She sighed again, imagining for the fourteenth time Gaara coming to her rescue and, surprisingly, sparing her attackers lives'. She wondered silently if her presence was invoking a change in Gaara's attitude, if her mere presence was changing him for the better. She sighed again at her fantasies, squishing her germanium tinted cheek against the side of her tub. She tried to find sense in her sudden attraction to Gaara, but she found no explanation for her random realization of just how cute her captor was. Besides that, on her official initiation to Princess Academy she had been given an identity. A fate to follow. She closed her eyes, musing over the all too familiar tale of Beauty and the Beast. She was supposed to be Belle, correct? She wondered why it hadn't occurred to her so vividly before that she was supposed to be the Beauty half of the Beauty and Beast equation. Of course, in her mind Gaara's angelic facial structure and mess of crimson locks was enough to initiate him as the beauty. If only the image of him in a flowing yellow ball gown wasn't so flipping funny...Matsuri was startled from her thoughts as a loud, urgent knocking practically attacked the bathroom door. She turned, studying the door with an eyebrow raised.

"Matsuri, other people use this bathroom too." Matsuri's blush increased at the reprimanding tone in Gaara's voice she quickly scampered out of the bathtub, wrapping a towel tightly around her as she hurriedly drained the bathroom water.

"One moment, Gaara, and it's all yours!" Once again, Matsuri took to inwardly scolding herself. If only she hadn't been in the bathroom so long...She quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and a baggy t-shirt (both courtesy of Gaara, who had hesitantly given up about half his wardrobe for Matsuri's wearing purposes) and unlocked the bathroom door, slamming it open to reveal a very impatient redhead. He didn't say a word to her, simply entering the bathroom and slamming it shut again.

"And reality strikes again," Matsuri muttered under her breath, and her daydreams of Gaara's 'secret romantic side' all but evaporated.

"What was that?" Gaara's voice drifted casually through the door, causing Matsuri's blush to resurface.

"Nothing, Gaara!" Matsuri chirped quickly as she sprinted away, making sure that he didn't have time to respond. And if he had responded, she was too far down the hall to hear it.

...

When Temari awoke she had a pounding headache, a furious temper, and an unquenchable need to interrogate the people standing around her bedside.

"What happened? Where's Karin? Why does my head hurt? Am I bleeding?" Temari wiped the back of the head, scowling when her hand came away with a few drops of blood. She looked at the other inhabitants of the room with wide, confused eyes. Her gaze transferred from Sakura to Hinata to Tsunade and back again. "You three don't have any answers, do you?" Temari asked, narrowing her eyes. Tsunade's loud sigh was all the response she needed.

"When we found you, you were passed out in the halls. Karin was long gone and this was all that was left." Tsunade held a pair of glasses. Temari took them, staring at them in confusion.

"These are Karin's reading glasses." Temari announced, scunching her face into a mixture of confusion and anger. "Those Akatsuki b*stards took her!" Temari slammed the glasses down, leaving Hinata to quickly secure them.

"D*mmit, at this rate none of us will be left!" Temari collapsed inwardly on herself for a moment, anger flaring within her at the thought of being trapped in some castle waiting for a worthless Prince to come save her. She scowled at the thought of her hair being climbed, stroking the beige pigtails and biting her lip.

"T-Temari, please c-calm down." Temari sighed, complying with her shy friend's wishes as she began rubbing her temples.

"Does anyone have tylenol?" She finally settled on asking, staring about at the group with narrowed forest colored eyes. "My head is killing me."

...

Yes, Matsuri is developing a strong attraction to Gaara. And yes, Karin is a prissy little mermaid. And, finally, yes Temari is getting real sick of Akatsuki's crap. Real, real sick of it. Anyways, my updates have slowed down to my vacation, and I apologize deeply for this. Sorry, please be patient! Thanks for all the wonderful support, and please review!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Turns out, taking care of an overly-curious easily-made-bored redhead was a lot harder than Suigetsu had originally assumed. He sighed as Zitty, as he had nicknamed her, began swimming in the shallow waters again.

"Hey, Zit, come back into the water. Some human is gonna catch you." Suigetsu drawled, his tone making his boredom evident.

"Look, Suigetsu! That guy's interesting looking!" Suigetsu watched as the redhead perched herself on a stone, pointing into the horizon at a man with spiky dark hair. He sat in a boat, staring into the water. Suigetsu narrowed his eyes at the potential curse-breaker, noticing silently that this one seemed to attract the Zit's attention even more than the others. He turned to tell Ariel that he was shady, but instead found a bare stone.

"Eh!? Zitty, where'd ya go!?" Suigetsu exclaimed, swiveling his head back and forth. By the time he finally spotted a flash of red hair she was already halfway to the boat.

...

Sasuke Uchiha was arrogant, rude, and easily irritated. That was part of the reason he had abandoned ship, ditching the irritating servants to instead paddle pointlessly around in his too-small-for-the-ocean boat. The other reason was that he happened to still be under the delusion that he would come across Itachi out in the middle of the ocean. And that was why the spiky haired teen continued to paddle tirelessly, a determined expression masking his typically emotionless face. And that is also why it took him longer than it should've to notice the waves of thick red hair that were currently residing on the girl perched on the side of his boat.

"What are you doing?" At the sound of the husky, low voice Sasuke almost leapt out of his skin. He whirled around, facing the redhead with an indignant expression.

"Who are you?" His chipped, slow growl surprised the redhead, but she continued to cling to his boat.

"My name's Ariel. Who are you?" She asked, a quizzical look possessing her face.

"Sasuke. Now get off my boat." Sasuke growled, hitting at her arms with one of his paddles. Honestly, Sasuke didn't have time for women. Especially not women who randomly came out of the water and...Wait? Out of the water? He turned back to the redhead, wondering if she was a siren or a harpy of some sort.

"What kind of creature are you?" Karin rose an eyebrow, confused by the man's rudeness. Honestly, wasn't it obvious enough?

"Are you demented? I'm clearly a mermaid." Karin gave a flip of her fin as if punctuating the point that she was, indeed, a mermaid.

"Whatever," Sasuke hissed, batting at her firm grip with his paddles again. "Just get off of my boat. I don't have time for your nonsense." Karin scowled, offense evident on her face as she finally release Sasuke's rather lame-looking wooden paddle boat.

"Okay then, lame wad, I hope you get caught in a storm and drown." Karin growled as she fell back into the water, re-situating herself so that she clung to a nearby stone.

"I hope you get caught by a fisherman, cut into pieces, and ate." Sasuke snarled in return, a small smirk practically attached to his lips. Karin scowled in return, deciding rather rashly that she had had more than enough of his attitude. She sprung back into the water, circling underneath Sasuke's boat. Sasuke yelped as his boat began to rock, gripping onto the sides as he was suddenly flipped over, falling into the water face-to-face with a redheaded mermaid. His eyes widened as she grinned evilly at him.

"Good luck finding your way to shore!" Karin sang as she watched Sasuke flail in the water, struggling to swim to the shore. She frowned in confusion, grabbing his calf. "What's this?" She asked, pulling him back down into the water. Sasuke scowled, using his other leg to kick off her face and aid himself into breaking the surface of the water. He gasped for air when he finally found his way back up, coughing up any salt water that he had accidentally inhaled. He dog-paddled lamely over to the stone Karin had been sitting on, gripping it as his onyx eyes peered back and forth for his boat. His exasperated expression turned to a glare when Karin emerged from the water, swimming towards him. A red mark sat on her cheek where Sasuke had used her as a kick-off.

"What's the big idea!? That hurt!" She yelled, rubbing her reddening cheek sourly. Sasuke glared daggers at her, his dark eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

"Not all of us can breathe underwater, idiot." Sasuke snarled as he clutched the rock. He grunted in annoyance as he noticed that his boat was nowhere to be found.

"Where's your fin?" Karin asked, grabbing at Sasuke's leg. Sasuke immediately skirted out of her grip.

"Where's my boat?" He hissed in response, his eyes skating the surface of the water. His dark eyes lit up when he caught sight of it drifting off into the horizon. His eyes flitted back to the fuming mermaid, and he realized with annoyance that he would need her help to get to his only mode of transportation. Perhaps staying on his boat would've been a good idea.

"What are those?" Karin demanded, making another reach for Sasuke's leg in vain. She scowled hatefully at him, stretching as far as she could. She had never seen something as strange as what Sasuke had in place of his fin in her life.

"I'll let you see my legs if you bring me my boat." Sasuke growled. Karin cocked her head at him, her eyes following his to the rackety brown paddle-boat rocking in the water off in the distance. Karin turned back to him, her red eyes expectant.

"Okay, but you have to promise." Karin reached out her pinkie, giving Sasuke an expectant look. Sasuke frowned, not willing to loose so much of his dignity to a pinkie promise.

"I promise," He hissed, whacking her hand away. "Now go before it drifts away!" Karin gave him a sulky pout before diving off into the water, reaching the boat rather quickly. Sasuke watched her with steely eyes, his attention only being pulled away when a splash sounded beside him. Sasuke turned his head to watch a man pull himself from the water, a smirk across his face.

"Hello, Sasuke, I see you've taken interest in Zitty." The man pulled himself all the way out of the water, his short white hair flipping as he turned his head to peer into Sasuke's eyes.

"Zitty? You mean the red-haired mermaid bringing me my boat?" Sasuke asked disinterestedly. Suigetsu grinned at Sasuke, his voice threatening.

"I don't care what she is to you, stay away from her. Or you'll regret it." Suigetsu's eyes flashed dangerously, earning Sasuke's glare.

"Is that a threat?" Sasuke hissed, anger filling him. He did not appreciate being threatened.

"A promise." Suigetsu gave one last grin before he sunk into the water. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, suddenly becoming more interested in the redhead pulling his boat back to him. If there was one thing Sasuke despised, it was giving into the whims of others. And there was no way he was listening to some white-haired freak full of arrogant threats. Clearly the fool didn't know that he was dealing with Sasuke Uchiha.

...

Tenten was typically an ambitious woman, taking challenges head-on and never giving up a fight that she had even a chance of winning. That's why when her cocoa eyes met the last mountain Neji was gesturing to her to climb Tenten's reaction was very unique. She crossed her arms, shifted her weight, and spoke with a firm voice.

"No," She growled as Neji studied her, his face firm and persistent despite the fact that he hadn't spoken. "I don't have a death wish, thank you very much." Tenten snapped, her eyes skating over the rocky slope. She wrinkled her nose as she imagined herself slipping and being impaled on one of the exaggeratedly spiky rocks. She grimaced, her eyes shooting up to the pale moon light. She had been climbing mountains with her Sensei all day and was more than ready to rest.

"Climb the mountain or be considered a coward." Neji's taunting voice earned a snort from Tenten as the brunette spun around and began walking towards the mountain. Tenten watched him go with a scowl.

"If you have a death wish, that's fine with me!" Tenten yelled, frowning when Neji simply tossed a smile over his shoulder. After a moment of watching him walk she sighed deeply, running a hand over her silky hair. "That jerk leaves me no choice." She grumbled as a low wolf's howl sounded in the distance, spurring movement from Tenten. She rushed to catch up with the cocky Hyuuga, an indignant expression crossing her face.

"I see you decided to come along." Neji's smirk sent a chill of anger through Tenten.

"I better get out of push-ups tomorrow for this." Tenten grumbled, earning a chuckle from Neji.

...

Holy crap this chapter is horrible. I haven't updated forever T-T So sorry about that, I've been busy with family issues and vacation. My family might take in my cousin next week, and if that happens my updates will become even more infrequent and spastic. Sorry! Please review! ;)


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Enough." Silence filled the room as all heads turned to face the woman sitting at the head of the table, her eyes filled with a silent annoyance. She looked every bit of the ice queen she was often described as, her narrowed eyes passing judgements on the women around the table.

"I will handle this, so there will be no more discussion." She crossed her legs, scouring the room for any sign of a challenge. When no one complained, she brushed a strand of blue hair back, her golden eyes flickering with traces of impatience.

"Tayuya, can you handle this challenge?" A girl with long, straight salmon hair stood, her face masked by a sour frown.

"I can handle anything, Konan." She said with a twisted smirk, a strand of hair falling into her eyes. Konan's face remained emotionless, but her eyes flickered with a new light.

"If you handle her correctly, you may transfer back. If not, expulsion. Is that clear?" Tayuya faltered at Konan's deadly tone, but nodded quickly.

"Yes, Konan, she should be no problem." Tayuya reassured, her graceful fingers tightening their grip on the long, smooth flute in her hand.

"Fair enough, Tayuya, but I'm not sure whether I should trust you or not," Konan's emotionless mask contorted into a taunting, unpleasant smirk as she leaned forward, cupping her chin in her hand. Konan's eyes danced with amusement as Tayuya stepped back, unsettled by the breaking of Konan's constantly collected stature.

"If you kill her, prove it to me by bringing me her heart." Konan's smirk remained as Tayuya hurriedly nodded, her grip on her flute tightening.

"Snow White will be dead by the end of the week." Tayuya's voice was barely a whisper, but it satisfied her headmistress. Konan finally leaned back, her smirk vanishing as if it was never there.

"Good, now go." At those words, Tayuya scrambled towards the door.

"And don't forget the heart." Konan muttered as Tayuya slipped out the large, mahogany doorframe.

...

Hinata couldn't decide what to do. She was something past frazzled, what with Karin disappearing and Temari basically throwing the temper tantrum to end all temper tantrums. She had stormed off into her room, practicing magic and refusing to stop. Sakura had slunk off to who-knows-where, leaving Hinata to fend for herself.

Naturally, Hinata had only one thing left to sate.

"Yeah, the sword practice was delayed because Kakashi was late again, even though he was practically stampeded for being late last time..." Hinata stopped listening as she watched the two shaped walk across the field, the blonde boy talking loudly. He walked with his hands behind his head, his azure eyes closed and a grin on his face. The other boy held an ice pack over his left eyes and looked rather beat up.

Hinata tried to muster up the courage to talk to the blue-eyed object of her affections, but her own shyness held her back. She sighed loudly, her lavender eyes following every movement. She closed her eyes, gulping and pulling together all of her courage. Then, in a move that took all the bravery she possessed, she swiveled around the tree and revealed herself to the duo.

"Hi, N-Naruto.." Hinata paused, trying to think of something to say. The moment Naruto's piercing cerulean eyes met hers, she lost the ability to speak. She gulped a little too loudly, her hands fidgeting.

"Hinata? I didn't expect to see you!" He grinned at that, coming closer to her. "What's going on over at you guys' school? We have a new princess to collect over here." Naruto grinned, gesturing behind him at his beat up friend.

"Kiba tried to convince them to let him go get her, but in order to be allowed to get her you have to win a battle. Kiba actually won, though it doesn't look that way." Kiba objected loudly to his friend's statement, earning a loud chuckle from Naruto.

Hinata smiled, playing with her fingers as she tried to think of something to say in response. When nothing came to mind, she simply continued to smile and prayed that Naruto didn't think she was weird. Luckily, it seemed he didn't so much as notice.

"I'm gonna take it after our free period, but don't worry! Gai's not gonna beat me like he did Kiba, I'm way cooler!" He beamed at her, causing a dark red blush to spread across Hinata's face. She giggled as Kiba yelled in complaint and Naruto teased back. Kiba rolled his eyes as Naruto turned back to Hinata.

"So, Hinata, do you have anything going on?" Hinata faltered, her violet eyes widening.

"I-I have something important to say, Naruto. You-You're cousin," Her gaze transferred from the ground to meet Naruto's expectant look. She frowned, not wanting to be the one to deliver the news as she pulled out Karin's reading glasses. "She's been kidnapped."

Naruto's mouth fell open, his eyes widening. He took the glasses from her hands, his shock subsiding to anger.

"Who? Who took her?" He snapped, his hand curling into a fist over the delicate lenses. Hinata bit her lip, her eyes boring holes into the ground.

"We believe it was Akatsuki." She whispered, just loud enough for Naruto to hear it. She wasn't surprised when Naruto, being as sporadic as ever, took off in an impressively fast sprint, rushing off to whatever destination was in his mind. Hinata only wished she could follow.

...

Matsuri was worried for her sanity. She figured that people had gone insane for lesser reasons than her current situation of having only one person to talk to and that person just so happening to be a man who is perfectly fine with killing and prefers silence.

Overall, Matsuri was going crazy due to the days filled with silence. She tried to fill the eerie lack of noise up with singing, but that was quickly shut down when Gaara threatened to clog her windpipes with sand if she didn't shut up. In his defense, it had been the fifteenth time he had asked.

However, she still had the noiseless problem that was slowly driving her insane.

Just as she was about to try to bring back singing, an idea came into her head...

Gaara was relaxing in a place he didn't typically visit. It seemed the only area he could go to be alone was the West Wing of his rather large estate. It was a place he hated to go because of the way it was set up.

Of all the confusing trinkets, the worst were the two pictures that haunted him, two pictures that confused him and made him wonder about his heritage. The first was a picture of a young boy, purple paint streaked across his face and a black cloak surrounding him. Next to him stood a woman with beige hair and wide eyes, a smile on her face.

The other picture contained a girl. She looked all too similar to the woman in the firs picture, except she looked about eight. Next to her was the boy with the purple paint, and both of them wore frowns. She had a strange hairstyle, four beige pigtails popping off of her head.

Gaara couldn't help but recognize the three people, to wonder who they were and what they meant to him.

The pictures were the main objects that made his place so private, a sanctuary to remain untouched by humanity. He didn't want someone like Matsuri poking around in here, questions were guaranteed, questions that he couldn't answer.

Questions that would feel like a knife through his heart because he could only be certain of one thing: these people had to be his family.

...

"Gaara, I was thinking, since you're the only person I'm ever gonna be around in my li-" Matsuri stopped talking as Gaara turned around a little too quickly, his turquoise eyes flashing with anger.

Her eyes travelled past the angry face of Gaara, meeting the pictures behind him. She scanned over the faces of the three figures, pausing on the frame that held the small girl.

"That girl with the pigtails..." She held up one of her fingers to point at the girl as she processed who she was, realizing that it was her friend in the frame.

"Matsuri, what did I tell you about the West Wing?" The voice was filled with enough killing intent to freeze Matsuri's blood, and she flinched back.

"Um, I-I thou-" She began, taking a step back as goose bumps rose on her arms.

"Get out, now!" Gaara snapped, expecting Matsuri to turn tail and run. He was surprised when she stopped, her features coming together in a determined frown as she fought back her fear.

"No, Gaara! I'm not gonna let you order me around like that!" She snapped back, crossing her arms in order to hide the shaking of her hands.

"Need I remind you who is the servant here?" Gaara growled back, sending a shiver of terror through Matsuri. She felt the air around them stiffen, yet her resolve held out.

"Gaara, I know that girl! The one in the frame!" Matsuri yelled back at him. She watched as he hesitated.

"You..know...her?" He asked, pointing at the frame. Matsuri nodded firmly in response, her short hair bouncing around her.

"Her name is Temari, she went to school with me. She's a sarcastic girl, but she's sweet anyways! She's one of my friends." Matsuri felt a pang of sadness at the thought of her friends. She wondered what was happening to Temari right now, was she trapped in a tower somewhere? She gulped down her thoughts, turning back to Gaara. She was surprised to see a look she could only describe as broken on his face.

"Matsuri, would you tell me more?" It was a tone she was completely unfamiliar with, a tone that was gentle and somehow sweet. Matsuri didn't so much as pause before she answered.

"Of course."

...

IT HAS LITERALLY BEEN FOREVER! Gosh,I am so sorry for the hiatus! I couldn't get the motivation to write, but I finally did it :D Sorry for the wait!


End file.
